Nimisha Priya’s execution in Yemen delayed: How blood money has saved Indians on death row

The execution of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on death row in Yemen, has been deferred. The Indian has been convicted of killing her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national.

Nimisha was set to be executed on Wednesday (July 16). The postponement of her execution is, however, only a temporary relief. She can be saved from the gallows only if the family of Mahdi accepts ‘blood money’ and pardons her.

What is it and has it saved Indians before? We take a look.

What is ‘blood money’?

Islamic law allows victims of crimes or their families to have a say in the punishment of the offenders. In the case of murder, the victim’s kin, particularly heirs, can “forgive” the murderer in exchange for monetary compensation.

The concept is known as diyah, or blood money, and can be traced to the Holy Quran. “O believers! The law of retaliation is set for you in cases of murder — a free man for a free man, a slave for a slave, and a female for a female. But if the offender is pardoned by the victim’s guardian, then ‘blood money’ should be decided fairly and payment should be made courteously. This is a concession and a mercy from your Lord.”

Many Islamic countries, including Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan, which follow Sharia law, allow the family of the victim to pardon the offender for money.

If diyah is accepted, the death sentence is suspended. In many cases, the person is also pardoned by the government of the country.

ALSO READ: How efforts to delay Indian nurse Nimisha Priya’s execution in Yemen unfolded

Has blood money saved Indian lives?

Yes.

Over the years, blood money has been offered to protect people, including Indians, from the noose.

Last year, Abdul Rahim, a native of Kerala’s Kozhikode, was saved from execution for the murder of a teenage boy in Saudi Arabia after 15 million Saudi riyals (roughly Rs 34 crore) were raised through crowdfunding.

The blood money led the Riyadh criminal court to revoke his death sentence. Rahim, the then 26-year-old autorickshaw driver from Feroke, had reached the Gulf country in November 2006 for a better life.

He started working as a driver for Saudi national Abdulla Abdurahman Al Shahri and caretaker of his partially paralysed son, who breathed and ate through a special device attached to his neck.

Just a month later, Rahim, who was trying to control the boy making a fuss during a trip, accidentally hit the instrument attached to his throat. The boy fainted and died. Later, a court in Riyadh found Rahim guilty of murder and awarded him the death penalty.

After paying blood money, Rahim’s death sentence was commuted to a 20-year jail term, including the time already served. He is expected to be free in December 2026, finally.

In 2017, AS Sankaranarayanan returned to his home in Kerala after languishing in prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for years for the accidental death of a Bangladeshi worker. The worker had died of electrical shock in a washroom at his labour accommodation in 2009.

Sankaranarayanan was ordered to pay 200,000 dirhams (Rs 47 lakh) as blood money to the family of the Bangladeshi worker, but could not come up with the compensation. After a report on his plight was published by Gulf News, many people offered to help.

Eventually, Emirates Islamic Bank donated the full amount of the blood money, securing Sankaranarayanan’s release.

Another Indian was saved from the gallows that year. A man from Telangana, who worked as a gardener in the house of one Shaikh Ghain, was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for killing an elderly man.

CH Limbadri pushed the 82-year-old man who was allegedly attempting a theft at his employer’s residence in 2007 to the ground, killing him. The Indian was arrested and a local court awarded him capital punishment.

The efforts of the Centre and the Telangana government, especially Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha, led to Limbadri’s employer to pay the Rs 1.80 lakh blood money to the deceased’s family. Limbadri returned to his family in March 2017.

In 2014, three Indian men on death row in Saudi Arabia for the murder of their compatriot were saved from execution after an Indian businessman paid nearly Rs 1.12 crore blood money on their behalf.

Saleem Basha, an Indian truck driver from Bengaluru, escaped the death penalty in 2013, when the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia paid around Rs 1.5 crore in blood money to the families of nine people killed in a road accident in 2006.

In 2014, Surinder Pal Singh Oberoi, an entrepreneur turned philanthropist, paid $1 million (about Rs 8.59 crore today) as “blood money” to secure the release of 17 Indian nationals on death row in the UAE for killing a Pakistani man.    

The Pakistani man was killed in 2009 in Sharjah, following a dispute over control of an illegal alcohol business. About 50 people stabbed him repeatedly, leading to his death.

The Indians, who had gone to Sharjah for work, were found guilty and sentenced to death in March 2010.

Nimisha Priya’s only hope is ‘blood money’

Nimisha Priya, who hails from Palakkad in Kerala, can be saved from execution in Yemen if Mahdi’s family pardons her.

The 38-year-old nurse is currently in a jail in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital city, under the control of the Houthi rebels.

The Save Nimisha Priya Action Council, a citizens’ group advocating for the nurse’s release, has offered Rs 8.5 crore to the deceased Yemeni national’s kin as blood money.

External Affairs Ministry (EAM) sources told BBC on Tuesday (July 15) that its officials had been in touch regularly with jail authorities and the prosecutor’s office in Yemen.

The Indian government “made concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for the family of Ms Nimisha Priya to reach a mutually agreeable solution with the other party”, they said.

On Monday, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that it was doing whatever was “utmost possible” to save the Indian nurse from execution. However, it noted that “nothing much” could be done given the situation in Yemen, where there has been a civil war since 2011.

“There is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that point,” Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the top court.

With inputs from agencies