Nimisha Priya’s Execution Postponed in Yemen

• 37-year-old Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, sentenced to death for murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi, has seen a glimmer of hope after a last-minute postponement of her execution.

• Nimisha, a Kerala native, left for Yemen in 2008 with the hope of a better future for her parents.

• She worked at a government-run hospital in Sanaa until 2011, then returned to Kerala to marry Tomy Thomas.

• The civil war in Yemen in 2014 led to the Houthi rebels gaining control over Sanaa.

• Nimisha quit her job to start her own clinic in 2015, but was forced to partner with Mahdi to set up the venture.

• In 2017, Nimisha sought advice from a jail warden near her clinic, but an overdose resulted in Mahdi’s death.

• Nimisha was arrested near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia after Mahdi’s dismembered body was discovered in a water tank.

• She was sentenced to death in 2020 and the Houthi Supreme Political Council dismissed her appeal in November 2023.

• The Indian government is in contact with local authorities and some “friendly governments” in the region to push for her release.