Who is Nimisha Priya: Indian woman to be executed in Yemen; what led to death sentence

Nimisha Priya , an Indian nurse from Kerala, is scheduled to be executed in Yemen on July 16, according to several media reports.

Who is Nimisha Priya

Priya has been in prison in Yemen since 2017, facing trial for the murder of a Yemeni citizen, Talal Abdo Mehdi. She was convicted in 2020, and her death sentence was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.

Priya, aged 37, is originally from Palakkad district in Kerala. According to court records, she had given sedatives to Talal, who was allegedly holding her passport. The sedatives reportedly caused his death. She and a Yemeni woman, Hanan, were accused of dismembering the body and disposing of it in a water tank, as reported by various media outlets.

The Yemeni embassy earlier informed news agency PTI that the case has been mainly handled by the Houthi militia, which controls the city of Sana’a, where Priya is being held.

She was found guilty by a trial court in 2017.

The prosecution proved that Nimisha had killed Mahdi who was also her business partner. They had jointly operated a health clinic in Sana'a. After the murder, she dismembered his body and disposed of the parts in a tank. During the court proceedings, Nimisha stated that she committed the act in retaliation to the abuse and torture she endured from Mahdi, who had also taken possession of her passport.