India government sources deny Kerala cleric’s claim of reprieve for Nimisha Priya in Yemen

India government sources on Wednesday refuted recent claims made by a Kerala-based cleric that Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who is facing the death penalty in Yemen, has been granted a reprieve.

According to a PTI report, the sources stressed that such claims are factually incorrect and cautioned against speculation in this highly sensitive case.

Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliyar, the Grand Mufti of India, had on Monday asserted that Priya’s death sentence had been overturned following high-level mediation efforts.

The claim was based on a statement from the cleric’s office, which suggested that key decisions had been reached during negotiations in Yemen, including an alleged agreement to revoke the sentence.

However, Abdul Fattah Mahdi, brother of the Yemeni man murdered by Priya, publicly rejected these assertions. In a strongly worded Facebook post, he denied that any pardon had been granted and questioned the legitimacy of the negotiations.

"Which Yemeni organisation did they speak to?" Mahdi asked, referring to the cleric's representatives. He also cited Islamic legal principles, stating that leniency is not applicable in murder cases, and accused the mediators of failing to engage with the victim’s family directly.

Priya, 38, a nurse from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, was convicted in 2020 by a Yemeni court for murdering her business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi. Her appeal was rejected by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.

Although her execution was initially scheduled for July 16, it was postponed due to ongoing efforts by Indian authorities and non-resident Indians seeking clemency. She is currently held in a prison in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa.

India's Ministry of External Affairs, which has no direct diplomatic presence in Yemen, stated on July 17 that it is actively working with Yemeni officials and friendly nations to find a “mutually agreeable solution.”

Indian authorities are now focusing on efforts to secure a pardon through diya — the Islamic practice of compensating the victim’s family with blood money.