‘Baseless claims’: Yemeni victim Talal Mahdi's family rejects preacher meetings in Nimisha Priya case

After Indian nurse Nimisha Priya’s execution date in Yemen was postponed, there have been claims that talks have been initiated with the victim, Talal Abdo Mahdi’s family. The execution was postponed following a last-minute reprieve after the crucial intervention of a prominent Muslim cleric from Kerala, A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, general secretary of the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama. Musliyar, also known as Kanthapuram, has long-standing ties with influential Sufi clerics in Yemen and played a key role in facilitating the delay.

Mahdi’s brother, Abdel Fattah Mahdi, posted on social media that the claims that the execution was halted after the family’s meeting with Indian or Yemeni preachers are totally baseless. “We have neither met them nor anyone representing them, nor even any intermediaries on their behalf, nor have we received any phone calls from them. We completely reject this, as we insist on our right to carry out God's law,” he noted.

Abdel Fattah Mahdi also noted that delaying the execution will only increase the family’s resolve and insistence on carrying out their “retribution.”Abdel Fattah also accused Indian media of portraying Nimisha Priya as innocent.

Yemeni authorities found Priya guilty of injecting Talal with sedatives, killing him, and later dismembering his body and placing it in a water tank. Abdel Fattah noted that the media’s portrayal that Talal had exploited Priya and confiscated her passport—and that she did the act to retrieve the passport—is also slander.

The murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi had sparked intense anger among tribal groups in North Yemen. Notably, the Indian government does not have a formal diplomatic relationship with Yemen and has expressed limitations in getting involved in the negotiations with the family. 

Earlier, Abdel Fattah had told BBC Arabic that his family had suffered not only from the brutal crime but also from the long, exhausting litigation process.

Abdel Fattah had earlier noted that "those who halted the execution know very well that the family absolutely rejects any attempt at reconciliation.”

A petition given by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council will be considered by the Supreme Court today.  Adv Subhash Chandan of the action council said they have moved the apex court for constituting a high-level diplomatic and mediation committee to lead the blood money negotiations in Yemen. “We are proposing a six-member committee comprising two representatives from the Government of India, two from the International Action Council, and two from [A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar's] Markaz, the organization currently assisting with the blood money negotiations,” says Chandran.