New Delhi/Sanaa: Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala who has been on death row in Yemen for the murder of a Yemeni national, is scheduled to be executed on July 16, according to reports from Sanaa.
The President of Yemen had approved Priya’s death sentence last year, finalizing the legal process that began in 2018 when she was convicted of murder.
Priya had moved to Yemen in 2008 to work as a nurse and financially support her family. Over time, she opened her own clinic with the help of Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national, as local laws required business partnerships with citizens. Their relationship reportedly deteriorated, and after filing a complaint against Mahdi in 2016 that briefly landed him in jail, Priya allegedly faced continued threats from him.
According to her family, Priya tried to retrieve her passport from Mahdi by injecting him with sedatives, but an accidental overdose led to his death. She was arrested while attempting to flee the country and later found guilty of murder.
She has since been imprisoned in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, which is currently controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces. Her family has been pursuing all legal and diplomatic avenues for her release, including an appeal to Yemen’s Supreme Court.
With the execution date now set, Priya’s case has once again drawn national and international attention, sparking renewed calls for urgent diplomatic intervention.
