Daijiworld Media Network - Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 11: As the clock ticks down to July 16, the scheduled execution date of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen, urgent appeals are intensifying from political leaders and civil society, demanding the Indian government act decisively to save her life.
On Thursday, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan sent a heartfelt appeal to President Droupadi Murmu, urging top-level diplomatic intervention. "I earnestly appeal for your intervention in the case of Nimisha Priya, a 37-year-old Indian nurse from Palakkad district, who is facing imminent execution," he wrote, highlighting the humanitarian urgency of the situation.
Yemen’s legal framework offers a glimmer of hope: under diyat (blood money) provisions, a victim’s family may grant a pardon in exchange for financial compensation. However, India’s lack of formal diplomatic ties with the Houthi-led government in Sanaa has made direct negotiations difficult.
“In light of this humanitarian crisis, I urge immediate steps through all available diplomatic channels to secure a stay on the execution and extend legal, diplomatic, and financial support to save her life,” Satheesan’s letter emphasized.
On Wednesday, Mariamma Oommen Chandy, widow of former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, and her son Chandy Oommen, MLA, personally met Governor Rajendra V. Arlekar to request state-level intervention. Mariamma recalled her late husband’s early involvement in the case and pledged to carry forward his mission to save Nimisha.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India has scheduled a hearing on July 14 to consider a petition urging the Centre to activate diplomatic mechanisms and halt the execution.
Nimisha Priya, who moved to Yemen in 2008, initially worked in hospitals and later opened her own clinic. In 2017, following a fallout with her Yemeni business partner Mehdi, she reportedly attempted to sedate him to retrieve her seized passport. The injection allegedly resulted in his death. She was arrested while trying to flee and was convicted of murder in 2018. Her death sentence was confirmed in 2020 and upheld in 2023 by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council, which nonetheless left open the possibility of avoiding execution through a pardon by the victim’s family.
At the center of the grassroots effort is Nimisha’s mother, Prema Kumari, who has travelled to Yemen herself in an attempt to negotiate with the victim’s family. Her fight has been backed by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, a coalition of NRI social workers and activists working on the ground to mobilize diplomatic outreach and raise the necessary funds for diyat.
With the execution date just days away, public pressure is mounting on the Indian government to urgently intervene and bring home one of its citizens facing death abroad.