Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday wrote to PM Narendra Modi, urging that the Indian government intervene to stop the execution of Nimisha Priya in Yemen on July 16.
In the letter accessed by THE WEEK, Vijayan called it a “case deserving sympathy”, and also referenced another letter he had sent to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in March.
This comes amid reports stating that the gravity of the charges against the Indian nurse—who has been sentenced to death by a Yemeni court after being convicted of murdering a citizen of the country—has made it difficult for relief efforts to succeed, a PTI article said.
Indeed, although Shariat laws allow convicts facing death row to be exonerated if the victim's family agreed to accept 'blood money', the family of Talal Abdo Mehdi—the Yemeni citizen that she allegedly drugged and murdered—have refused to accept any payment.
CM Vijayan's letter to Modi also accompanies a Supreme Court plea by the 'Save Nimisha Priya Action Council', seeking diplomatic intervention to have her released. Currently tabled in the apex court, the case is set to be heard on Monday.
Earlier, a source from the Ministry of External Affairs told THE WEEK that the ministry has been closely following the matter since June 2018.
"We have been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance," the source added.
Why was Nimisha Priya sentenced?
First moving to Yemen in 2008, Nimisha worked in multiple hospitals, after which she partnered with Talal—as per Yemeni regulations—to set up her own clinic in Sana'a, under his sponsorship.
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Following a serious fallout between them, Talal allegedly forged marriage documents, confiscated Priya's passport, and extorted money from her, which led her to allegedly sedate him to escape. However, the dose was too fatal, leading to his death.
Arrested by Yemeni authorities in 2017, she received the death sentence in 2020. Despite challenging this verdict in the country's highest court—and then appealing to the President Rashad al-Alimi—her appeals were rejected.
Al-Alimi went on to approve her sentence in 2024. A year later, in July, Nimisha was informed of her tentative execution date, which she conveyed to her husband Tomy Thomas, as per an OnManorama report.