BBC
Nimisha Priya is currently incarcerated in the central prison in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.
Family members of an Indian nurse sentenced to death in war-torn Yemen say they are pinning their hopes on a last-ditch effort to save her.
Nimisha Priya, 34, was sentenced to death for the murder of a local man – her former business partner Talal Abdo Mahdi – whose severed body was discovered in a water tank in 2017.
Incarcerated in the central prison in the capital Sanaa, she is expected to be executed soon, with Mahdi al-Mashat, chairman of the Supreme Political Council of the Houthi rebels, having approved her sentence this week.
Under the Islamic justice system, known as sharia law, the only way to prevent execution is to obtain forgiveness from the victim’s family. For months, Nimisha’s relatives and supporters have been trying to do this by collecting diyah, or blood money, to pay to Mahdi’s family, and negotiations have been ongoing.
But with time running out, supporters say their hopes rest entirely on the family’s decision.
With the arrival of the presidential sanction, the prosecutor’s office will again seek consent from Mahdi’s family and ask if they have any objections to the execution, said Samuel Jerome, a Yemen-based social worker who is holding a power of attorney in the name of Nimisha. mother.
“If they say they are unwilling or unable to grant him clemency, the sentence will be canceled immediately,” he said.
“Forgiveness is the first step. Only then does the family accept the blood money.”
Under Yemeni laws, Nimisha’s family cannot contact the victim’s family directly and must hire negotiators.
Subhash Chandran, a lawyer who previously represented Nimisha’s family in India, told the BBC that the family had already funded $40,000 (£32,268) for the victim’s family. The money was paid in two installments to lawyers hired by the Indian government to negotiate the case (a delay in sending the second installment affected the negotiations, according to Mr. Jerome).
“We now need to explore the possibilities of discussions with (the victim’s) family, which is only possible with the support of the Indian government,” Mr Chandran said.
India’s foreign ministry said it was aware of Nimisha’s situation and was extending all possible assistance to the family.
His family is anxious but also full of hope.
“Nimisha has no knowledge of what goes on beyond the prison gates,” said her husband Tony Thomas, who spoke to her hours before the death sentence was approved. “The only thing she wants to know is if our daughter is okay.”
Nimisha’s mother is currently in Sanaa, where she went last year after an Indian court allowed her to travel to the region controlled by Houthi rebels. Since then, she has met her daughter twice in prison.
The first reunion was very moving. “Nimisha saw me…she said I had become weak and asked me to keep courage and God would save her. She asked me not to be sad,” said her mother Prema Kumari at the BBC.
The second time, Ms. Kumari was accompanied by two nuns who prayed for her daughter in prison.
Mr Thomas hopes they can reach a settlement and save Nimisha’s life.
Nimisha was just 19 years old when she left for Yemen.
The daughter of a poorly paid domestic worker, she wanted to change her family’s financial situation and worked as a nurse in a public hospital in Sana’a for a few years.
In 2011, she returned home to the southern Indian city of Kochi and married Mr Thomas, a tuk-tuk driver.
The couple moved to Yemen together soon after. But financial difficulties forced Mr Thomas to return to India with their baby daughter.
Tired of low-paid hospital jobs, Nimisha decided to open her own clinic in Yemen.
As the law required her to have a local partner, she opened the clinic jointly with Mahdi, a store owner.
At first, the two men were on good terms: when Nimisha briefly visited India for her daughter’s baptism, Mahdi accompanied her.
“He seemed like a nice man when he came to our house,” Mr Thomas told the BBC.
But Mahdi’s attitude, according to Mr. Thomas, “suddenly changed” when civil war broke out in Yemen in 2014.
At that time, Nimisha was trying to finalize the paperwork so that her husband and daughter could join her again.
But after the war broke out, the Indian government banned all travel to Yemen, making it impossible to travel with her.
Over the next few days, thousands of Indians were evacuated from the country, but Nimisha chose to stay, as she had taken out huge loans to open her clinic.
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Nimisha’s family challenged the death sentence in Yemen’s highest court, but their plea was rejected.
That’s when Nimisha began complaining about Mahdi’s behavior, including allegations of physical torture, Mr. Thomas said.
A court petition, filed by a group called Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, alleged that Mahdi confiscated all of her money, confiscated her passport and even threatened her with a gun.
After Mahdi’s body was discovered in 2017, police accused Nimisha of killing him by giving him an “overdose of sedatives” and allegedly cutting up his body.
Nimisha has denied the allegations. In court, her lawyer argued that she had tried to anesthetize Mahdi simply to get her passport back, but that the dose was accidentally increased.
In 2020, a local court sentenced Nimisha to death. Three years later, in 2023, his family challenged the decision in Yemen’s Supreme Court, but their appeal was rejected.
Despite so many twists and turns, the family does not want to lose hope.
“My heart tells me we can reach a settlement and save Nimisha’s life,” Mr Thomas said.
More than anything, he said he was worried about their daughter, now 13, who had “never known a mother’s love.”
“They talk on the phone every week and my daughter gets upset if she misses the call,” Mr Thomas said.
“She needs her mother. What will she do without her?”
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