‘Sensitive matter, offering all assistance’: MEA on Nimisha Priya’s death sentence in Yemen

The nurse, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, has been found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July 2017.

“This is a sensitive matter. The Government of India has been providing all possible assistance,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing.

“We have provided legal assistance and appointed a lawyer to assist the family. We have also arranged regular consular visits and been in constant touch with the local authorities and the family members to resolve the issue,” he said.

This included concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for the family of Priya to reach a mutually agreeable solution with the other party, he said.

“We continue to closely follow the matter and render all possible assistance. We are also in touch with some friendly governments,” Jaiswal said.

VIDEO | Delhi: Responding to a question on the case of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia), while addressing a press briefing, said:

“This is a sensitive matter. The Government of India has been providing all possible assistance. We have… pic.twitter.com/bK0R8V8dAk

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 17, 2025

The case

Priya, a nurse from Palakkad in Kerala, was convicted of murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. She was arrested while attempting to flee Yemen and sentenced to death by a trial court in 2018—a verdict later upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Court. In 2023, the country’s President Rashad al-Alimi gave his formal approval for the execution order, which had been pending with the prosecutor since January 2024.

Priya had moved to Yemen in 2008 after qualifying as a nurse. In 2011, she returned briefly to Kerala to marry Tomy Thomas, before going back to Yemen with aspirations of starting a medical clinic. However, under Yemeni law, foreign nationals can only open clinics in partnership with a local. That’s when she and her husband approached Talal Abdo Mahdi, a frequent visitor at the clinic where she was employed, to serve as their local partner.

According to Priya’s family, Mahdi later refused to share the clinic’s income and allegedly forged documents to claim Priya as his wife—while her husband remained in Kerala. They allege she was subjected to physical and mental abuse and prevented from leaving the country, as Mahdi had taken away her passport and travel papers.

In a desperate attempt to retrieve her documents, Priya, allegedly assisted by another nurse, Hannan, reportedly tried to sedate Mahdi. However, the dosage proved fatal. Panicked, the two women are said to have dismembered the body and disposed of it in a water tank. Both were subsequently arrested.