As execution date nears, final attempts to save Nimisha Priya underway in Yemen

Indian nurse Nimisha Priya is on death row in Yemen, and time is running out fast, as there's just a week to go for the execution date-July 16,2025. Samuel Jerome, an Indian national who has been residing in Yemen for more than two decades, has been leading efforts to secure the release of Nimisha Priya.

Speaking to WION, Jerome said that he is making final attempts to provide hope and succour to Nimisha and her family. An aviation consultant by profession, Jerome is also a social worker and has been involved in the Nimisha Priya case since the start. As a power of attorney holder, Jerome has been undertaking efforts on behalf of Nimisha's mother Premakumari. Power of attorney is alegal document that allows one person to act on someone else's behalf.

The 37-year-old Indian nurse was convicted for the murder of a Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi, which happened in 2016. Nimisha Priya has been languishing in jail for several years, and in 2020, a Yemeni court had ordered her execution, the death sentence was later upheld by a higher court.

How the July 16 execution date was known

According to Samuel Jerome, this week he received a call on his Yemeni phone number, while he was in India. The call was said to be from the Chairman of Prisons in Yemen and they informed me that the execution would be carried out on July 16. I verified these details with my contacts in Yemen and learnt it was legitimate. People in touch with me have also gone to the prison and checked the relevant documents and confirmed them to be true. I have been in India for the past three months and have now reached Yemen after the sudden developments in the case, he told WION.

The negotiations so far with the victim's family

More than three months ago, while in Yemen, Jerome had attempted to negotiate with the deceased victim Talal's family. "We had negotiations with his father and brother, asking for forgiveness. The concept of blood money is that the victim's side has to first forgive, and then the sum has to be paid. We offered to pay $1million (over Rs.8.5 crore) and also some other assurances. However, there was no response from the family after that," he said.

The way ahead and final attempt

According to Jerome, the execution order would not be issued without the victim family's consent for the same. Therefore, Jerome is of the view that further direct negotiations with the family would not be of help. However, he is now in touch with people who might be able to influence the victim's family, hoping that they could be made to reconsider their decision. Jerome is presently in Aden and is planning to travel to Sanaa, where Nimisha Priya is lodged in a prison.

What the Indian government says

According to sources, “Nimisha Priya was convicted for the crime of murder in Yemen in June 2018 and the local court handed out death sentence to her. We have been closely following the matter since then. We have been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance. We continue to closely follow the matter.”

About Nimisha Priya and her case

Hailing from a poor family in Kerala's Palakkad district,Nimishawent to Yemen in 2008 and worked as a nurse in a Government-run hospital in Sana'a. Eyeing better earning opportunities, she quit her job and started her own clinic.

Nimisha's India-based lawyer Subhash Chandan maintains thatPriyaand another woman had started a clinic with Yemeni national Talal, who had later subjected the women to physical and mental abuse, confiscated their passports. In a desperate bid to escape the abuse and flee, it is said thatPriyaand the Yemeni woman had drugged Talal, which is suspected to have led to his death. The case got further complicated after Talal's mutilated body was found by the authorities in Yemen.Nimisha's lawyer maintains that she was only responsible for drugging the abuser and that she isn't aware of what transpired after her escape bid.

When Nimisha's mother met her in Yemeni jail

After a seven-year-long wait and multiple court battles in India, Premakumari, Nimisha's mother was able to meet her daughter in a Yemeni prison, in April 2024. Back then, jail authorities had permitted the mother-daughter duo to spend a few hours together and even allowed them to have lunch in the premises. Since 2017, India strictly prohibited its nationals from travelling to Yemen, owing to the deteriorating internal security situation there. Only those with special permission from the Indian Government can undertake travel to Yemen, for others it is a punishable offence.