Nimisha Priya's Execution In Yemen Scheduled For July 16, Social Worker Says

New Delhi: Sentenced to death for murdering a Yemeni man, Indian national Nimisha Priya is scheduled to be executed on July 16, a social worker associated with her case has told two press houses.

Official sources did not confirm the development, only saying that they have been “in regular touch” with local authorities and have provided “all possible assistance” to Priya's family.

Samuel Jerome Baskaran, the social worker, whom Manorama identified as having power of attorney on behalf of Priya's mother, said that prison authorities in Yemen had phoned him on Monday (July 7) saying her execution is scheduled for July 16.

Priya has been told about the date and the Ministry of External Affairs too has been informed, Baskaran told Manorama, adding that while the family of the man she is convicted of killing has been offered $1 million as ‘blood money’ – a form of compensation under Sharia law that if accepted can avert her execution – their response as part of negotiations is still awaited.

Speaking to the Indian Express, which said Baskaran is involved with the negotiations with Yemeni officials and the victim's family, he claimed that “options are still open” and that “India can intervene in the matter to save her life”.

However, officials sources did not confirm Priya's situation. They said they have “been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance”, and have been “closely following” Priya's case since she was put on death row in 2018.

India does not recognise the Houthi regime that controls much of civil war-torn Yemen's northwest, including the city of Sanaa, where Priya is imprisoned.

Priya, a nurse, is convicted of killing her business partner Talal Abdo Mahdi. As per media reports, she is said to have tried to sedate Talal in an attempt to recover her passport, which he had allegedly seized. The Houthis' Supreme Political Council upheld her sentence earlier this year.

As of March this year, Priya was one of 49 Indian nationals on death row abroad, per the external affairs ministry.

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