Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti sought External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s help to intervene to save the Indian nurse currently on a death trial in Yemen.
The former chief minister also urged people to donate generously for raising blood money needed for getting clemency for Nimisha Priya. Priya, 38, was a practicing nurse from the Palakkad district of south India’s Kerala when she was convicted of murdering her Yemeni business partner in 2017.
She was sentenced to death in 2020, and mercy petitions were rejected by the country’s top court in 2023. She is currently lodged in a jail in the country’s capital, Sanaa.
Mehbooba Mufti’s post on X read, “Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse, is facing execution in Yemen on July 16. She was allegedly subjected to severe abuse, and in an attempt to defend herself, a man died.”
She also said that despite facing the death penalty, she could be saved by paying the blood money according to Yemeni law.
“Request @DrSJaishankar to intervene immediately. Unfortunately, till now the required funds and diplomatic pressure are both inadequate,” Mehbooba said.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J-K urgently appealed to everyone, especially women, to donate generously so that the family of the nurse can pay for clemency.
According to Muslim law, which is perhaps mostly followed in the Arab lands, Diyya, or Qisas, is a form of monetary compensation to the heirs of the victim.
The term is particularly intrinsic to Arab culture, where they called such measures “blood money.” Diyya is part of private rights due to the victim(s) and could not be waived by the sovereign.
According to a Saudi ruling, which is applicable to the majority of the Muslim world except for Shia Muslims. Nimisha have to pay $100,000 as blood money to the heirs of the victim.
Meanwhile, Nimisha’s Lawyer has agreed to pay $1 million to the victim’s family as part of the blood money arrangement, according to reports.
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