Nimisha Priya: Uncertainty Deepens Over Death Sentence In Yemen As MEA Refutes Overturn Claims

Confusion surrounded Indian nurse Nimisha Priya's death sentence in Yemen. While a Grand Mufti claimed it was overturned on July 28, India's MEA swiftly denied it, stating mediation is ongoing.

Indian nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen (Social media: File photo)

Uncertainty still besets the destiny of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who sits on death row in Yemen. Contradictory reports were heard on Monday, about the fate of her death sentence, keeping her family and supporters in limbo.

Earlier on Monday, the office of Grand Mufti Abu Bakr Musliyar stated that Nimisha Priya's death penalty had been officially reversed, suggesting she would no longer be executed in Yemen. This news had briefly raised hopes for her release.

But minutes after that, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) quickly denied the Grand Mufti's assertion. MEA sources explained that reports made about Nimisha Priya were "incorrect" and that the Grand Mufti was merely "mediating" in the matter. This MEA announcement threw Nimisha Priya's case back into uncertainty, asking whether her sentence is indeed overturned or if only its execution is suspended.

Victim's Family Demands Execution

Compounding the complexity, Abdul Fattah Mahdi, the sibling of the late Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi, for whom Nimisha Priya was found guilty of manslaughter, has openly called for Nimisha Priya's instant execution.

Expressing himself on a social media page, Abdul Fattah posted a letter to Yemen's Attorney General, asserting that his family demands the instant application of the death sentence without any delay. As per the English portal Onmanorama, in his July 25 letter, he wrote that the order for the death sentence on Nimisha Priya had got the final nod from Yemen's Supreme Political Council. "This decision has now attained the status of a final and binding order. Hence, its implementation is obligatory under the law, and all concerned authorities have to implement it without delay," the letter had allegedly claimed.

Abdul Fattah also refuted the Grand Mufti Abu Bakr Musliyar's claim of a meeting between Northern Yemeni authorities, an international delegation, and a group of Islamic clerics appointed by Sheikh Habib Omar bin Hafeez, which was supposedly aimed at overturning the death sentence.

Nimisha Priya's execution was originally set for July 16 but was put off indefinitely after mediation by Indian religious leaders. Abdul Fattah had publicly denounced this postponement, declaring that his family "categorically rejected all reconciliation and mediation efforts, as the crime had crossed all boundaries."

Grand Mufti's Claim And Family's Arrival

Despite the victim's family's position, attempts to spare Nimisha Priya were said to be being made from the side of Grand Mufti Abu Bakr Musliyar. An announcement from the 94-year-old Grand Mufti's office had previously stated Nimisha Priya's death sentence, which was suspended before, had now been "completely cancelled" in a high-ranking meeting in Sanaa.

Meanwhile, Michelle, 13-year-old daughter of Nimisha Priya, and her husband have reached Sanaa, Yemen's capital, along with a few mediators in the hopes of winning her release. Nimisha's daughter cried out emotionally, "I miss you Mommy. I love you very much, Mommy. Please help bring my mother home. I really want to meet her."

Nimisha Priya, a 38-year-old Indian nurse from Kerala, traveled to Yemen in 2008 in search of improved job prospects. She was an employee at a government hospital. In 2017, she was charged and subsequently convicted of murdering Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi.