Hope for Nimisha Priya as Grand Mufti Joins Death Row Effort
Grand Mufti’s last-minute intervention offers hope for Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, facing execution in Yemen on July 16 for murder.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Grand Mufti of India Kanthapuram E Abubaker Musaliyar's active intervention, there is a ray of hope for Malayal nurse Nimisha Priya, who is to be executed in Yemen on July 16 in connection with the murder of a Yemeni national.
According to reports, Kanthapuram, who is also All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama general secretary, is actively involved in efforts to prevent the death penalty for the 36-year-old Malayali nurse, currently imprisoned in Yemen. Talks about her release are underway in Yemen, involving the family of the deceased, Talal. Following a request from Kanthapuram, a Yemeni Sufi Scholar, Shaikh Habeeb Ummer, is leading the emergency meeting in northern Yemen.
The participants in the emergency meeting in North Yemen include Sheikh Habib Ummer's representative Habib Abdurrahman Ali Manshoor, Yemeni government representatives, the Supreme Judge of Jinayat Court, Talal's brother, and tribal leaders. Discussions suggest that Talal's family is being persuaded to forgive Nimisha Priya in exchange for blood money.
They are also requesting her release by exempting her from the death penalty.
Kanthapuram Abubaker Musliyar intervened in the matter on Sunday, just two days before the scheduled execution of the death penalty. Even as critical developments are underway in Yemen, the Central government informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it has done whatever was possible in the case.
Background of the case
Nimisha, a native of Palakkad district of Kerala, was working in Yemen, and she got stuck there following a travel ban in the country due to the civil war in 2016. While her husband and daughter returned to India earlier in 2014, she could not join them at that time due to her job requirements. In the meantime, with the assistance of Yemeni citizen Talal Mahdi, Nimisha set up a clinic in 2015.
Subsequently, serious differences surfaced between Nimisha and Mahdi and the nurse accused him of torturing and abusing her. With the Yemeni national taking away her passport, she got stranded in that country with no documents to travel back home.
In her statement made earlier, Nimisha had alleged that the Yemeni had posed himself as her husband before the local authorities following which she could not get any assistance from them.
Things took a turn for the worse on July 25, 2017, when she injected Mahdi with sedatives to take her passport back and flee from that place. But to her horror, the Yemeni collapsed soon after she administered the sedative.
After realising that Mahdi had died, Nimisha, along with another person's help, disposed of his body.
The crime surfaced four days later. The Yemeni police took both Nimisha and her accomplice into custody.
While Nimisha was sentenced to death, the other person was given life imprisonment.