Indian nurse Nimisha Priya is in jail in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, which is under Houthi control. She was sentenced to death for killing a Yemeni national.
The death sentence awarded to Indian nurse Nimisha Priya by a Court in Yemen has not been ratified by President Rashad al-Alimi, as the country’s embassy was quoted by the news agency PTI, which the Houthi militia has controlled.
On Monday, the Yemen embassy clarified that the case did not receive the blessings of Rashad al-Alimi, the chairman of the presidential leadership council. Rather, the entire affair was completely run by the Iran-backed Houthis.
Nimisha Priya, 37, is currently in jail in Yemen’s capital city Sana’a, which is under Houthi control. The nurse, who hails from Kollengode in the Palakkad district in Kerala, was found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July 2017 by a trial Court in 2020.
Yemen’s supreme judicial council upheld the Court’s decision and sentenced her to death in 2024. On Friday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the government is extending “all possible” help and is closely following developments in the case. On Thursday, a senior Iranian official also offered to help in whichever way possible to aid Priya, reported PTI.
Earlier, Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, and others tried to raise the money needed for “blood money” to obtain her release from prison. According to the blood money system, a decision to pardon the culprit will override the court’s judgment on death if the family forgives him or her a certain amount.
However, failing to raise that money, Priya’s mother appealed to the Indian government through a video message to help her daughter.
