Nimisha Priya's death sentence overturned in Yemen after high-level talks

According to an announcement from the office of India’s Grand Mufti, Kanthapuram A.P. Abubakar Musliyar, Nimisha Priya’s death sentence has been completely overturned. However, the agency stated that it had not yet received official written confirmation from Yemeni officials.

The 37-year-old Kerala nurse was slated for death on July 16 after being convicted of murdering her business partner in Yemen. The execution was previously postponed.

The alleged decision was taken during a high-level conference in Sana’a, Yemen, when top Yemeni academics, nominated by Sheikh Umar Hafeel Thangal at the request of the Indian Grand Mufti, met with Northern Yemeni authorities and international diplomats.

The meeting ended with the complete cancellation of Priya’s death sentence, which had been suspended earlier this month.

According to the Grand Mufti’s office, significant decisions have been made, but additional conversations are expected. One of the outstanding difficulties is a settlement with the family of the dead Yemeni national, Talal, which will be handled through ongoing discussions.

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Nimisha Priya came to Yemen in 2008 to seek greater employment opportunities. Like many Indian nurses working overseas, her decision was motivated by financial concerns back home. She started working in a private hospital in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

In 2015, she formed a business partnership with a Yemeni national named Mahdi to co-manage a medical facility. Since Yemeni laws prohibit foreign nationals from independently owning medical institutions, Mahdi’s involvement was essential for legal compliance.

However, Priya later claimed that the partnership had become abusive. According to her and her supporters, Mahdi kept her passport, misused clinic funds, physically attacked her, and restricted her freedom.

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Priya gave Mahdi sedatives in July 2017 in an attempt to reclaim her passport, and he later died. She and a coworker, in a state of panic, dissected the body and disposed of the parts in a water tank to try to hide the incident.

She was apprehended at a border crossing in August 2017. In 2018, a Yemeni criminal court condemned her to death, claiming that she provided medications without authorisation, caused Mahdi’s death, and sought to conceal the crime, actions the court regarded suggestive of malice.

Higher courts denied her pleas, and Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council upheld the death sentence in November 2023. With Houthi forces presently in control of Yemen’s political structures, the execution was officially planned for July 16, 2025.