Kerala Nurse Nimisha Priya Faces Execution in Yemen on July 16 for 2017 Murder
Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted of murdering her Yemeni business partner Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017, is scheduled to be executed on July 16, 2025, in Sana’a, Yemen. The 37-year-old from Palakkad faces the death penalty after a failed attempt to sedate Mahdi to retrieve her passport led to his death by overdose. With diplomatic efforts ongoing and her family seeking a pardon through “blood money” negotiations, the Indian government is under pressure to intervene as time runs out.Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala’s Palakkad district, was arrested in 2017 for the murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi. According to reports, Priya, who moved to Yemen in 2008 to support her family, partnered with Mahdi to open a clinic in Sana’a in 2015, as Yemeni law requires a local partner for foreign businesses.
Disputes arose when Priya accused Mahdi of abuse, torture, and withholding her passport, preventing her from leaving Yemen.In 2017, desperate to escape, Priya, acting on a jail warden’s advice, injected Mahdi with sedatives to retrieve her documents. The overdose proved fatal, and Priya, along with a colleague, allegedly dismembered and disposed of Mahdi’s body in a water tank. She was arrested while attempting to flee Yemen. A Sana’a trial court sentenced her to death in 2020, a verdict upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in 2023. On December 30, 2024, Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi approved the execution, now set for July 16, 2025.
Samuel Jerome, a human rights activist representing Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, confirmed the execution date to Onmanorama, stating that Yemen’s public prosecutor issued the order to prison authorities. Jerome noted that negotiations with Mahdi’s family for a pardon in exchange for “blood money” (diyya) under Sharia law are ongoing but have faced setbacks.
The family reportedly demanded $1 million for a pardon, a sum Priya’s family and the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council have struggled to raise.The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement on July 8, 2025, saying, “We have been closely following the matter since [Priya’s conviction in 2018]. We have been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance. We continue to closely follow the matter.” The ministry emphasized its commitment to exploring all options, including diplomatic interventions, to secure Priya’s release.Prema Kumari, who has been in Sana’a since April 2024, is tirelessly negotiating with Mahdi’s family. “She keeps telling me she’s well there. What else can she say to her own mother? God willing, we will be able to go back home together,” Kumari told Onmanorama. The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, formed in 2020, has raised $40,000 for negotiations, but delays in transferring funds to a lawyer appointed by the Indian Embassy have stalled progress.
Public reaction on X reflects urgency and concern. Posts from users like@dhanyarajendran highlight “frantic negotiations” to pay blood money, while @AdityaRajKaul noted the Indian government’s ongoing engagement with Yemeni authorities. Some users expressed hope for a last-minute pardon, citing Priya’s claims of abuse by Mahdi, including physical and financial exploitation.Priya’s case is not isolated. Indian migrant workers in Gulf countries have faced legal challenges due to cultural and legal differences. In 2023, another Indian nurse in Saudi Arabia was acquitted after similar allegations of unintentional harm during a workplace dispute.
