'Nimisha Priya's execution should be postponed'; Premakumari  with petition to the Yemeni government

KOCHI: A petition has been filed seeking a stay of execution of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, who is in jail in Yemen. Nimisha's mother Premakumari has filed a petition with the Yemeni government. The family and the Action Council are hopeful that discussions with the family of slain Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi will make progress and a consensus will be reached on the blood money issue.

Nimisha Priya's execution date is set for July 16 (Wednesday). The central government will respond to the Action Council's petition seeking intervention to save Nimisha Priya from the death penalty on Monday.

The family of the murdered Talal Abdo Mahdi has demanded around Rs 8 crore in blood money. The Yemeni government had earlier decided to execute Nimisha on the 16th of this month. The order in this regard came while release procedures of Nimisha was being sought. The order was received from the Public Prosecutor's Office in Yemen.

The case is that Nimisha Priya, a native of Palakkad, killed a Yemeni citizen while working in Yemen. It is reported that all legal avenues to avoid the death penalty have been exhausted and the only way to save Nimisha Priya is for Mahdi's family in Sanaa to pardon her. The murder in question took place in July 2017. The police arrested Nimisha Priya the next month.

The case is that Nimisha Priya and her friend killed Talal Abdo Mahdi and hid his body in a water tank above their house. After being arrested in the case, the trial was completed and Nimisha was sentenced to death in 2018.