Nimisha Priya case: MEA refutes reports on death sentence revoked

India Today

According to the Ministry of External Affairs sources rejected claims that the death sentence of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted in a 2017 murder case in Yemen, had been cancelled.

Transcript

00:00That's 13-year-old Michelle, daughter of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya.

00:13She hasn't seen her mother in 10 years.

00:15Now sitting beside her father, an Indian evangelist, K.A. Paul,

00:19appealing to Yemen's Houthi administration, begging for her mother's life.

00:23Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala, was sentenced to death in 2020

00:27for the murder of her Yemeni business partner, Taral Abdo Mahadi.

00:30She's been in Sanaa's central prison ever since.

00:33Her execution was scheduled for July 16, 2025.

00:36However, it was deferred following sustained diplomatic efforts

00:39between Indian and Yemeni authorities.

00:41Then came a twist.

00:42According to reports on July 28, the office of the Grand Mufti of India,

00:46Kanthapuram AP, Apu Bakan Musliar, claimed that Nimisha Priya's death sentence

00:50had been officially cancelled.

00:52The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, which was previously suspended,

00:55had been overturned.

00:56A high-level meeting held in Sanaa, decided to completely cancel the death sentence

01:00that was temporarily suspended earlier.

01:02However, not so fast.

01:04The MEA sources have issued this statement on the issue, saying,

01:07Information being shared by certain individuals on the Nimisha Priya case is inaccurate.

01:12Nimisha moved to Yemen in 2008 for work.

01:15She later partnered with Talal to run a clinic,

01:17but that partnership turned into a nightmare.

01:19She accused Talal of physical and sexual assault,

01:22forging a fake marriage certificate,

01:24seizing her passport, and trapping her in Yemen.

01:27In 2017, she allegedly tried to sedate him to retrieve her documents.

01:31Talal died, Nimisha was arrested and sentenced to death.

01:34Her appeals were rejected.

01:36In 2023, Yemen's top court upheld her conviction,

01:38and the president signed off on the execution.

01:41But under Yemeni law, death sentences can be waived

01:43if the victim's family accepts compensation or diya and grants a pardon.

01:48Her lawyers offered $1 million to Talal's family.

01:51Whether that offer or diplomatic efforts will save her remains uncertain.

01:55For Michelle, the wait for her mother continues.

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