Sanaa: The execution date of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on death row in Yemen has been fixed on July 16, as confirmed by Indian Embassy. 

Nimisha Priya, a native of Thekkumchira, Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, was convicted in the 2017 murder of Abdul Mahdi, a Yemeni national. According to reports, Nimisha and her associate killed Mahdi and concealed his body in a water tank on the roof of the house. She was apprehended while attempting to flee the country.

In 2018, a Yemeni court sentenced her to death. Though the appeals court later upheld the verdict, it allowed the option of a pardon through the payment of ‘blood money’ (diyya) to the victim’s family, following Yemeni law.

Samuel Jerome, a human rights activist based in Yemen, confirmed that negotiations to secure a pardon through the payment of blood money are ongoing. The victim’s family has been informed that a sum of $1 million USD (approximately ₹8.3 crore INR) could be offered. However, it remains uncertain whether they will accept the payment.

Nimisha Priya is currently detained in a prison in Sana’a, Yemen.