What Lies Ahead For Nimisha Priya As Govt Approves Pre-Negotiation Money Transfer
Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Palakkad, Kerala has been in Yemen jail since 2017 for the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national. The Indian woman was convicted of killing the local after injecting sedatives. Nimisha Priya reportedly injected the sedative to retrieve her passport from Mahdi and the sedative overdose unfortunately caused the victim’s death. As per the law, the woman was given death penalty and the Supreme Court in November last year upheld the death penalty while dismissing an appeal filed by the convict. Since then, the family of Nimisha Priya has been exploring ways to save her from the punishment.
In the latest development, the Union Government recently approved the transfer of the pre-negotiation money for the release of the Kerala nurse. The money will be reportedly transferred via the Indian embassy in Sanaa. An action council, ‘Save Nimisha Priya Action Council’ was created to raise blood money for the release of the woman. The convict’s mother, Premakumari, recently approached the government with the demand.
Read Also: Yemen Court Dismisses Kerala Nurse’s Appeal Against Death Penalty
Since the Supreme Court dismissed the review petition for Nimisha Priya, the only way left before the convict was to seek the pardon of the victim’s family to waive the penalty in Islamic Law. Notably, the option only applies to the crimes including murder, bodily harm and property damage committed “unintentionally.”
If the convict committed the murder by mistake and the victim’s family forgave the convict in exchange for blood money (compensation paid to the victim’s family), then the convict can be save from the death penalty.
However, the pre-negotiation amount is estimated to be more than 33 lakh. (40,000 US dollars), as per the Action Council. The pre-negotiation discussions will be conducted by a Yemeni lawyer, who was appointed by the Indian embassy and with the help of two Indian embassy officers, along with Nimisha Priya’s mother Prema Kumar and Samuel Jerrome, a member of the Action Council.
Babu John, one of the action council members said that the Indian Embassy informed them that they need to collect the pre-negotiation money within one week. “The amount of blood money can be decided only after the first round of pre-negotiation. As the discussion happens with the knowledge and leadership of the Indian Embassy, they will inform us of the amount and other details after the discussion” The News Minute quoted Babu John as saying.
The Case That Led To Nimisha Priya’s Death Penalty In Yamen
The Kerala woman was running a clinic along with the partnership of the victim as the law in Yemen mandated to have a local partner for any business. However, the partnership soon ended because of bitterness between the two. Mahdi allegedly started threatening Priya and took her passport. After Priya filed a complaint against Mahdi, he was arrested but later released, again continuing to trouble the woman, as per her claims. To go back to India, Priya wanted her passport. To take it back, she injected sedatives into the victim leading to his demise due to the overdose. Fearing the consequences, the woman cut the victim’s body and disposed in a water tank at her residence.
