'You know the situation in Yemen now. There is no government there.'
'The rebels are in control. So, there is no diplomatic channel through which we can negotiate.'
If unconfirmed reports are to be believed, 38-year-old Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala, will be executed on July 16, 2025 in Yemen.
It was in 2012 that Nimisha Priya and her husband Tom Mishel moved to Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, to work as a nurse. Like so many people like her, it was to provide a better life for her family that she moved to the Middle East.
Within a year, their daughter was born while she continued to work as a nurse there.
In 2014, all their dreams got shattered due to the civil unrest in the region.
Although her husband and infant daughter returned to Kerala, she stayed back to work in a private hospital.
In July 2015, Nimisha started a clinic along with Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi which is a requirement for all foreign nationals in that region if they wanted to start any business.
If reports are to be believed, the Yemeni national confiscated her passport, subjected her to physical abuse and denied her money from the clinic.
Out of desperation, she administered him a sedative in order to retrieve her passport and escape from his custody. Unfortunately, it turned lethal, and he passed away before she could flee Yemen.
In 2020, a Yemeni court sentenced her to death, and the Yemen's supreme judicial council upheld the punishment in November 2023. But the court allowed the possibility of a pardon if the victim's family accepted blood money under Yemeni law.
As India does not have an embassy in Yemen, and Sanaa, where she has been lodged in a prison, is under Houthi control, diplomatic efforts by the Indian government to free her have not materialised so far.
Leaders across party lines have been trying their best as a last-minute effort to save Nimisha from being executed on the 16th.
Chandy Oommen, Congress MLA and the son of the late Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, met the Kerala governor, requesting him to intervene and save Nimisha Priya from death.
"There is no time left. All of us have to work hard and fast to put an end to the suffering of her mother, husband and daughter," Chandy Ooomen tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier.
Yesterday, you met the Kerala governor along with your mother, and appealed for help from him to save Nimisha Priya.
Your father also wanted to help her...
Yes, my father had tried a lot to bring her back. In fact, it was his last wish that she was free and back with her family.
When V Muraleedharan (then minister of state for external affairs) came to visit him when he was in hospital, he conveyed this wish to him and requested him to help her.
During his last days, whichever political leader visited him, he would talk to them about her and request them to do whatever they can to stop her execution.
Since it was his last wish, I had been pursuing this issue for the last two years.
I have been talking to various businessmen in the Middle East. I have been talking to leaders from all political parties. I have also been talking to the lawyer in Yemen who has taken up her case. I have been constantly in touch with the lawyer, Samuel Jerome.
Her mother has been with the lawyer for the last one year, and I had a video call with the mother a few months ago.
I have been in touch with the family including her husband.
All of us are trying our best to stop her execution.
How did your father get involved in her case?
He was always involved in humanitarian issues. He was instrumental in rescuing Malayalis from Iraq.
I think it was after Nimisha's mother met him that his involvement in her case became more intense. I came to know that he was always in touch with them.
Her parents came here to pay floral respects to my father after he passed away.
p class="rbig">You feel it is your responsibility to take the case forward now as time is running out for her?
That was one of my father's last wishes. That's why my mother also wants to see a happy ending to this case.
My mother feels when a fellow citizen of ours is in a jail in Yemen, we should try our best to save her. It is a humanitarian concern for all of us who are involved.
Yes, there is no time left, and all of us have to work hard and fast to put an end to the suffering of her mother, husband and daughter.
She is a nurse from Kerala, and she went to a foreign country to work as there were no opportunities for her in the state. She took up the job to escape poverty...
That's why I say, the world should to come to Kerala rather than Keralites going to all over the world.
Yes, it is out of desperation and to improve their lives that people from this state go elsewhere.
Why are our people going to various parts of the world? Because of lack of opportunities here.
It is high time we create opportunities here.
It is said that because Yemen is under the Houthi administration, it is very difficult for the Indian government to have diplomatic efforts and intervene.
Do you think if the Indian government put more pressure, there will be hope for her?
It is not that Government of India has not been pursuing this matter. It has been working to find a solution for long. They are involved in the case for many years now, but nobody has been able to find a breakthrough. We cannot deny the fact that Indian administration has been trying their best.
You know the situation in Yemen now. There is no government there. The rebels are in control. So, there is no diplomatic channel through which we can negotiate.
When the news of the date of her execution came, we decided to meet the governor. My mother also came with me as she wanted to convey her wish to the governor. He is talking to many people now.
Reports say she can be pardoned by the family if you give blood money.... Has anyone been trying that route?
The problem is, the family has to accept the blood money and pardon her. If they are not ready for that alternative, the concept of blood money doesn't work.
I am not aware of the current situation. Only her lawyer knows, and he is travelling to Sanaa today to try to meet her. As he is travelling, I have not been able to get in touch with him today.
Do you see hope for Nimisha Priya?
So many people in this country are trying.
Yes, it is a fact that there are limitations but within the limitations, everybody is trying thier best.
I can only say, let's pray for the best, and hope she comes back to India.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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