Congress leader K C Venugopal has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking urgent intervention to save Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse facing execution in Yemen.
Venugopal described the death sentence as a “grave travesty of justice,” emphasizing that Nimisha Priya is a victim of unimaginable cruelty and domestic abuse.
“Nimisha Priya doesn’t deserve to die. I’ve written to the PM seeking urgent intervention to prevent her execution,” Venugopal said in a post on handle X on Saturday. He urged the Prime Minister to take diplomatic steps with Yemeni authorities to halt the execution, scheduled for July 16.
Nimisha Priya, a 37-year-old nurse from Kerala, was convicted in 2018 for the murder of a Yemeni national, Talal Abdo Mahdi. According to reports, she administered sedatives to Mahdi in an attempt to retrieve her passport, which led to his death. Priya has claimed that she was subjected to severe abuse and torture by Mahdi.
The Indian government has been extending all possible help to Nimisha Priya and her family. A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the Centre’s intervention to save her from execution. The court has agreed to hear the plea on July 14, just two days before the scheduled execution date.
Under Yemen’s Sharia law, execution in murder cases can be averted if the victim’s family accepts “blood money” (financial compensation) and issues a formal pardon. Activists and Nimisha’s action council have offered up to $1 million as blood money, but the victim’s family has not yet accepted it.