Mother Allowed to Visit Yemen to Bargain “Blood Money” to Save Indian Nurse from Gallows

New Delhi: A woman from Kerala was granted permission by the Delhi High Court to travel to Yemen to negotiate her daughter’s release, who is on death row in Yemen for murder. The court, on Tuesday, allowed the mother to travel to Yemen and try and negotiate a “blood money” deal to save her daughter Nimisha Priya. “Blood money” is the compensation decided by the victim’s family to secure her release, as per the Shariah law prevalent in Yemen.

Since 2027, India has banned travel of Indians to Yemen. So, no Indian can visit Yemen without the permission of the government. Delhi High Court directed the Centre to allow Prema Kumari, Nimisha’s mother, to travel to Yemen.

The court has asked Prema Kumari to submit an affidavit stating that she will travel at her own risk and responsibility without any liability to the Indian government.

Nimisha Priya, a nurse was found guilty of killing his Yemeni employer, who was allegedly torturing her and was not allowing her to return back to India by confiscating her passport. She injected Talal Abdo Mahdi with sedatives in an attempt to retrieve her passport from his possession. But Mahdi died due to overdose of sedative.

Nimisha is in prison since 2018. She was sentenced to death by a trial court in Yemen in 2018, which was confirmed by the Yemini Supreme Court. Now only hope of Nimisha’s survival is a “blood money” deal between the families.