Palakkad: The Indian Embassy for Yemen has confirmed that authorities in the foreign state have not issued any order to execute Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who is facing a death sentence. The embassy verified this information after contacting the jail authorities in Yemen.

The clarification from the Indian Embassy came just hours after Nimisha Priya’s family claimed that she had received an anonymous call in jail, alerting her about an alleged execution order.

Samuel Jerome, a human rights activist based in Yemen who took the initiative for Nimisha’s release, told Manorama News that only the jail authorities can access the execution order if the court issues it. 

“ I have confirmed that there will be a communication from the court and public prosecutor to the jail authorities. Nobody will call  Nimisha and tell her about the execution order. So far, we don’t know the authenticity of the call,” Jerome told Manorama News.

Jayan Edappal, convenor of the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council, received a voice message from Nimisha Priya on Friday night notifying him of a call she received from a woman counsel. "She contacted the main office and they patched the call to me. She said that the date of execution has been fixed and the order has reached the prison authorities," she said in the audio message.

Nimisha Priya, hailing from Kollangode in Palakkad, has been imprisoned in Sana’a since 2017 for the murder of Talal Abdul Mahdi, a Yemeni citizen. 

The case
Nimisha Priya arrived in Yemen in 2011 and started a clinic in Sana’a in 2015 under the sponsorship of Talal. Due to financial difficulties, her husband and child returned to India in 2014. Talal allegedly forged documents claiming to have married Nimisha Priya and began subjecting her to physical and mental abuse. He reportedly confiscated her passport, threatened her, and extorted money.

In a desperate attempt to retrieve her passport and escape, Nimisha Priya planned to drug Talal. However, reports indicate that he died during the attempt. She was arrested in July 2017, charged with Talal’s murder, allegedly committed with an accomplice. The trial court sentenced her to death in 2020, and subsequent appeals were dismissed by various courts. Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council upheld the death sentence in 2023.