Reports Of Nimisha Priya's Execution Revoked Are False: Officials

New Delhi: The government sources on Tuesday described as false the reported claims of cleric Aboobacker Musaliar that the death sentence of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya had been revoked by Yemen. “Information being shared by certain individuals on the Nimisha Priya case is inaccurate,” sources said.

India had earlier this month confirmed that the execution of Priya that was scheduled to take place in Yemen on July 16 had been postponed. New Delhi had also confirmed that it was in touch with “some friendly governments” on the matter.

Priya was earlier sentenced to death in Yemen on charges of murdering a Yemeni national identified as Talal Abdo Mahdi.

The clarification came after publication of media reports from Kerala on the purported claim by Musaliar that “a team of Yemeni scholars, appointed by Sheikh Habib Omer bin Hafiz (reportedly a Yemeni scholar), at the request of the Grand Mufti, worked alongside international diplomats to mediate an agreement, resulting in the decision to revoke the execution”.

Government sources pointed to the reported statements made by the kin of Mahdi lambasting certain preachers for false claims and asking Hafiz about who exactly these legal heirs of Mahdi were with whom he had been claiming to negotiate.

According to reports, Priya’s mother Prema Kumari, 57, has been visiting Yemen’s capital Sana'a to secure a waiver of the death penalty and negotiate the blood money with the victim's family.

According to an earlier BBC report, Priya’s relatives and supporters say they have raised US$1m (nearly Rs 9 crore) and offered it to Mahdi's family. "We are still trying to save her. But ultimately the family has to agree for pardon," Babu John, a member of the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, was quoted as telling the BBC last week after the date for her execution was set.

But the report said Mahdi's family, however, have made clear that they will settle for nothing less than her being put to death.