Even as intensive diplomatic efforts are underway to rescue Nimisha Priya, who is jailed in Yemen and is on death row, her husband was hopeful of Rahat and his wife returning home. Tommy Thomas and his daughter hope that they will be able to settle the case against Talal Abdo Mahdi’s family by paying out blood money.
“Many people are working to resolve this issue and we are all hoping that we will be able to connect with Mahdi’s family who will have to forgive Nimisha. Our daughter sometimes connects with her mother, but that mother Missing everyone’s attention and love.” ,” said Thomas, who returned home from Yemen years ago and was planning to return when the issue surfaced.
The urgency of the situation increased after Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi approved the death sentence of Nimisha Priya earlier this month. Reports suggest the execution could take place within a month, leaving his family and supporters struggling for resolution.
Nimisha Priya, originally from Kollengode in Palakkad district of Kerala, moved to Yemen in 2008 to support her daily wage earning parents. After working in various hospitals, he opened his own clinic. However, in 2017, a dispute with his Yemeni business partner Mahdi reportedly took a tragic turn.
Family accounts claim that Nimisha gave Mehdi a sedative injection to get her confiscated passport back. Unfortunately, he died due to an overdose. Nimisha was arrested while trying to leave the country and convicted of murder in 2018.
In 2020, a trial court in Sanaa sentenced him to death. In November 2023, Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council upheld the verdict, but it left open the possibility of avoiding execution through the payment of blood money.
The case has attracted widespread attention and raised concerns over the fate of Indian citizens abroad as family and supporters continue their efforts to save Nimisha Priya from the death penalty.
Nimisha Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, 57, has been campaigning tirelessly for remission of the death penalty.
Earlier this year, he traveled to Yemen’s capital Sanaa to negotiate payment of ‘diya (blood money)’ to the victim’s family. Her efforts have been supported by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, a group of Yemen-based NRI social activists.
Prema Kumari, appearing on Malayalam television from Yemen, cried and urged immediate intervention.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
