Yemen Supreme Court Dismissed Malayali Nurse's Appeal Against Death Sentence : Centre Informs Delhi High Court

The Central Government on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that the Supreme Court in Yemen on November 13 had dismissed the appeal of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya against the death sentence imposed on her for murdering a Yemeni national. The final decision now lies with the President of the Yemen, the Centre added.

The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by the mother of Nimisha Priya seeking permission to travel to Yemen to negotiate with the victim’s family by paying blood money.

The Court directed the Union Government to decide within one week the representation of the petitioner.

Justice Subramonium Prasad ordered that the mother’s plea be treated as a representation which will be decided by the Centre within a week.

This was after the counsel appearing for the Union Government told court that according to a recent notification, the ban to travel to Yemen may be relaxed and Indian nationals may be allowed to travel for “specific reasons and durations.”

“In view of the notification, let the present petition be treated as a representation. Respondent is directed to decide the representation within one week from today,” the court said.

The mother had sought permission to travel to Yemen despite the travel ban for Indian nationals to travel to the foreign country.

It was her case that the only way to save her daughter from the gallows is to negotiate with the family of the deceased by paying blood money for which she has to travel to Yemen. However, she was unable to do so due to the travel ban on Indian nationals.

On March 7, 2022, an appellate court in Yemen dismissed the appeal filed by Nimisha Priya, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi in the year 2017.

Nimisha allegedly injected him with sedatives to retrieve her passport that was in his possession. Nimisha had allegedly abuse and torture by Mahdi.

Last year, a coordinate bench had disposed of a petition seeking directions to the Centre to facilitate negotiations with the victim's family and save Priya from capital punishment by paying blood money in accordance with the Yemen law.

Later, an appeal against the single judge order was dismissed by a division bench.

Title: PREMAKUMARI v. UNION OF INDIA & ANR

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 1126