‘Blood money only option left to save Kerala nurse on death row in Yemen,’ says lawyer

One of the only methods to save the nurse from Kerala on death row in Yemen is to negotiate a deal involving “blood money” with the kin of the victim, said the lawyer who has requested a Delhi court to allow her mother to travel to the country.

Nimisha Priya faces the death penalty for the murder of a Yemeni national and their Supreme Court has dismissed her appeal. A direct negotiation with the victim’s family now remains the only way forward under the Shariah law prevalent in Yemen, lawyer Subhash Chandran said. However, that too is easier said than done.

“There is a travel ban to Yemen since 2016 due to which Indian citizens cannot visit Yemen without the permission of the Indian government. So we are not able to reach out to the victim’s family for the blood money negotiation,” said Chandran, who is part of the forum comprising politicians, businessmen, activists, and expatriates seeking justice for Nimisha.

“Blood money” is the compensation to be decided by the victim’s family to secure her release. But for this negotiation, it’s important for her mother to travel to Yemen and the Delhi High Court has urged the Centre to decide within a week on the request from her mother.

Nimisha’s mother, who works as a house help for a family in Kochi, has sold her property to fight the case, said Chandran, adding that several activists and expatriates formed the Nimisha Priya International Action Council in 2023 to ensure she gets justice.

The forum is now requesting the central government and the foreign ministry to negotiate with the victim’s family. “We are ready to pay, but considering the political situation in Yemen, the government is the appropriate authority for the negotiation,” he said.

Nimisha was convicted of killing Talal Abdo Mahdi after she injected him with sedatives in an attempt to retrieve her passport from his possession. She remains in a Yemeni jail since the 2017 murder.

“In 2017, internal conflict began in Yemen and her husband and child had returned to India. She was alone that time when her sponsor started abusing and torturing her physically and financially. He had confiscated her passport and she was unable to escape from there,” said Chandran.

“To get her passport back, she tried to sedate him but an overdose led to his death. That was the time of an internal conflict in Yemen and she did not get proper legal defence. Sanaa, the city where was she underwent trial, was under the control of the Houthi rebels,” added the lawyer. “She’s a victim of war.”