Race to safe Nimisha Priya’s life

The race is on to save Nimisha’s life after the President of Yemen Rashad Al-Alimi has upheld her death sentence. Priya, has been in prison since 2017, for killing a Yemeni national.

She was handed capital punishment by a trial court in 2020 and the verdict was upheld by Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.

Nimisha trained to become a nurse and moved to Yemen in 2008 for better prospects. She married Tomy Thomas, who hails from Idukki, in 2011. The couple returned to the capital city Sana’a, where they had a daughter.

Nimisha and Tomy decided to set up their own clinic because they were fed up with their low income. Since foreigners were not allowed to register their businesses, they looked to partner up with a Yemeni national. Nimisha decided to approach Mahdi, a regular at the clinic she used to work at.

Since the local law mandates partnering with a local to start a business in Yemen, Nimisha came in contact with Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2014 to set up her new establishment. 

However, things went rough between the two and Nimisha filed a police complaint against Mahdi who was arrested in 2016. But he continued to threaten Nimisha even after his release. 

A dispute arose between the two the following year after she opposed Mahdi's alleged attempts to misappropriate funds. According to Nimisha's family, in a bid to retrieve her confiscated passport, she allegedly injected Mahdi with sedatives. 

However, an overdose led to his death. 

She tried to flee the country but was arrested and convicted of murder in 2018. In 2020, she was sentenced to death by a trial court in Sanaa and the verdict was upheld by Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. 

The judicial council, though, left open the option of blood money, which is the compensation to be decided by the victim's family. 

Nimisha's family approached the Yemeni Supreme Court against the trial court order but their appeal was rejected in 2023. 

She was found guilty of murder after Mahdi's chopped-up body was discovered in a water tank.