The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday firmly pushed back against claims that the death sentence for Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted in a 2017 murder case in Yemen, had been officially canceled.
Indian government refutes claims of Nimisha Priya’s death sentence cancellation
Reports circulating about the cancellation of Nimisha Priya’s death sentence are inaccurate, according to Ministry of External Affairs sources.
Key Takeaways
- The Ministry of External Affairs has denied claims that Nimisha Priya’s death sentence has been canceled.
- The office of Grand Mufti of India had previously stated the sentence was overturned.
- Priya’s execution was scheduled for July 16 but was halted following appeals for clemency.
- She was convicted of murder in Yemen after a former employer died following a sedation attempt.
Is Nimisha Priya’s death sentence canceled? The Indian Ministry of External Affairs says no.
On Monday, the office of Grand Mufti of India Kanthapuram AP Abubakar Musliyar had announced that Priya’s death sentence had been officially canceled, a statement that had been temporarily suspended earlier. According to a statement attributed to the Grand Mufti’s office and shared by news agency ANI, a high-level meeting in Sanaa decided to completely cancel the previously suspended death sentence.
However, the Grand Mufti’s office also clarified that it had not yet received any official written confirmation from the Yemeni government regarding this decision.
Nimisha Priya’s execution was originally slated for July 16. It was halted just a day before, reportedly following a direct appeal from Grand Mufti Musliyar to Yemeni officials, urging clemency.
Why Was Nimisha Priya Convicted?
Nimisha Priya, 38, a nurse from Kerala’s Palakkad district, moved to Yemen in 2008 seeking better employment opportunities. She entered into a business partnership with a Yemeni national, Talal Abdo Mahdi, and together they ran a clinic in Sanaa. Their relationship soured when Mahdi allegedly began harassing her, falsely claimed to be her husband, and confiscated her passport, preventing her return to India.
In an attempt to retrieve her documents in 2017, Priya reportedly sedated Mahdi. The attempt tragically proved fatal, with Mahdi dying from a suspected drug overdose. Priya was subsequently arrested, convicted of murder in 2018, and handed a death sentence by a Yemeni court in 2020.
Her case garnered significant international attention, especially after Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi and Houthi leader Mahdi al-Mashat approved her execution in late 2024 and early 2025, respectively. Nevertheless, the sentence was postponed due to persistent diplomatic interventions from the Indian government and religious leaders.
