Nimisha Priya: Kerala nurse’s mom reaches Yemen to rescue her from death sentence
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Nimisha Priya is from Palakkad in Kerala. After finishing her nursing training, she went to Yemen and worked in some private hospitals.
On Saturday night (April 20), Nimisha Priya's mother, Premakumari, and Samuel Jerome, the chairman of the 'Save Nimisha' Action Council and a human rights activist, arrived at Yemen's international airport. Their purpose is to visit Nimisha Priya, who is currently detained in a Yemeni prison.
After their visit to Nimisha Priya in prison, they plan to meet with tribal leaders and the family of the Yemeni citizen who was killed.
Premakumari, along with Nimisha’s husband Tomy Thomas, daughter Michelle, and Advocate K.R. Subhash Chandra, arrived at Kochi airport on Saturday morning to catch an Indigo flight to Yemen, as reported by Mathrubhumi news.
Since India currently lacks diplomatic relations with the Yemeni government, and the embassy has been relocated to Djibouti, discussions are being facilitated by the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council.
Advocate K.R. Subhash Chandran handled Nimisha Priya’s mother's case in the Delhi High Court and remained in constant communication with the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the matter.
Why does Nimisha Priya face death sentence?
Nimisha Priya, who has been in prison since 2017 for the murder of a Yemeni citizen, Talal Abdo Mahdi.
Priya was convicted of killing Mahdi and received the death sentence from a Yemeni trial court in 2018. Since then, her family has been advocating for her release.
With the Yemeni Supreme Court rejecting her appeal, the decision now rests with the country's President.
Originally from Palakkad district in Kerala, Priya trained as a nurse and later moved to Yemen, where she worked in various private hospitals.
In 2014, she met Talal Abdo Mahdi, who offered to help her start her own clinic, as local partnership is required by Yemeni law for business ventures.
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However, their partnership ended due to conflicts, and Priya started her clinic alone in 2015. Mahdi, reportedly, began threatening her and confiscated her passport to prevent her from leaving Yemen.
Priya filed a police complaint against him in 2016, resulting in his arrest, but he continued to harass her after his release. In 2017, she injected him with sedatives in an attempt to retrieve her passport, but he died from an overdose. Consequently, Priya was found guilty of murder in 2018 and sentenced to death.
(With inputs from agencies)
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