Yemen prez nod for Kerala nurse's death sentence, kin clings to hope

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala, faces imminent execution in Yemen after President al-Alimi approved her sentence for murdering a Yemeni citizen in 2018. Efforts by her family and the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council to negotiate her release through payment of blood money are ongoing, with her mother in Sana'a to finalize talks.

KOCHI: A campaign in her native Kerala to secure the release of nurse Nimisha Priya from death row in Yemen suffered a setback Monday after President Rashad Muhammed al-Alimi approved her sentence for murder. Nimisha, from Palakkad, was convicted of murdering a Yemeni citizen, Talal Abdo Mahdi , in 2018 and has been in Yemen's central prison since. The prosecution established that Nimisha murdered Mahadi, with whom she had started a health clinic in Sana'a and subsequently married in July 2017.

She chopped up her husband's body and dumped the parts in a tank. The motive was purportedly revenge for the torture that Mahadi allegedly subjected her to. He also seized her passport, Nimisha told the court.

Since President al-Alimi's approval could lead to the execution of her death sentence within a month, the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council and her family members intend to expedite their negotiations with the victim's family and tribal leaders. Nimisha's mother is in Sana'a to negotiate the blood money to be paid to the victim's family..