Nimisha Priya's execution postponed, but victim's family could protest against it

In what is being widely perceived as a temporary relief, the execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya has been indefinitely postponed by Yemeni authorities. The execution was slated to happen on Wednesday (July 16), but the order postponing the execution had surfaced on Tuesday. However, those who are closely associated with the case hold the impression that this temporary postponement or indefinite postponement does not mean anything significant, and that the risk of Priya's execution in Yemen remains very high.

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. "Getting a temporary postponement of execution does not mean that we have all the time in the world. The execution could happen even tomorrow. The victim's family would not keep quiet; they will protest, and the Yemeni authorities will be forced to take action," he told WION. An aviation consultant by profession, Jerome is also a social worker. As a power of attorney holder, Jerome has been undertaking efforts on behalf of Nimisha's mother, Prema Kumari. Power of attorney is a legal document that allows one person to act on someone else's behalf.

Meanwhile, members of the India-based Nimisha Priya International Action Council maintain that efforts are on to reach out to the victim's family to seek pardon and to offer them blood money, to save Priya's life. However, they too acknowledge that the plea for pardon has been facing resistance from the younger members in the victim's family. Notably, according to a social media post, the victim's brother has been firm in his stance about punishment for Nimisha Priya. The post also indicates that the victim's family is unwilling to reconsider their decision, and it also adds that they would follow up till the punishment is carried out.

About Nimisha Priya and her case

Hailing from a poor family in Kerala's Palakkad district, Nimisha went 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 that Priya and another woman had started a clinic with Yemeni national Talal, who had later subjected the women to physical and mental abuse and confiscated their passports. In a desperate bid to escape the abuse and flee, it is said that Priya and 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 a Yemeni jail

After a seven-year-long wait and multiple court battles in India, Prema Kumari, 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 on the premises. Nimisha's mother, Prema Kumari, continues to be in Yemen, in the hope that she can return to India with her daughter.

Since 2017, India has 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.