The BBCThe family of an Indian nurse sentenced to death in war-torn Yemen say they are pinning their hopes on a last-ditch effort to save her.
34-year-old Namisha was Priya. Sentenced to death for the murder of a local man – his former business partner Talal Abdo Mehdi – whose dismembered body was found in a water tank in 2017.
Incarcerated in the central prison in the capital Sanaa, he will soon be hanged, after Mehdi al-Mashat, president of the rebel Houthi Supreme Political Council, approved his sentence this week.
Under the Islamic judicial system, known as Sharia, the only way to stop an execution now is to seek forgiveness from the victim’s family. For months, Namsha’s relatives and supporters have been trying to do so by collecting diya, or blood money, for Mehdi’s family, and negotiations are underway.
But with time running out, supporters say their hopes rest entirely on the family’s decision.
After presidential approval, the public prosecutor’s office will once again seek the consent of Mahdi’s family and ask if they have any objections to the execution, said Samuel Jerome, a social activist based in Yemen. said activist Samuel Jerome, who holds a power of attorney on behalf of Namisha. mother
“If they say they don’t want to or can’t forgive him, the sentence will be stopped immediately,” he said.
“Forgiving is the first step. Whether or not the family accepts the blood money is only known later.”
Under Yemeni law, Namisha’s family cannot contact the victim’s family directly and must hire negotiators.
A lawyer, Subhash Chandran, who has represented Namisha’s family in India in the past, told the BBC that the family had already crowdfunded $40,000 (£32,268) for the victim’s family. The money has been paid in two installments to lawyers hired by the Indian government to negotiate the case (Mr. Jerome says the delay in sending the second installment affected the negotiations).
“We need to find a way to communicate with him now. [victim’s] family, which is possible only with the support of the Government of India,” said Mr. Chandran.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said that it is aware of Nimisha’s situation and is providing all possible support to the family.
His family is worried but also hopeful.
“Namisha has no idea what’s going on outside the prison gates,” said her husband, Tony Thomas, who spoke to her hours before the death sentence was approved. It was talked about. “The only thing she wants to know is if our daughter is okay.”
Namisha’s mother is currently in Sana’a, having traveled there last year after a court hearing in India. allowed He has to go to the area controlled by the Houthi rebels. She has since met her daughter twice in jail.
The first meeting was very emotional. Her mother Prema Kumari told the BBC, “Namisha saw me… She said I had become weak and told me to be strong, and God would save her. She told me not to be sad. said to, “
Another time, Ms. Kumari was accompanied by two nuns who prayed for her daughter in prison.
Namisha was barely 19 years old when she went to Yemen.
The daughter of a poorly paid domestic worker, she wanted to change her family’s financial situation, and worked as a nurse in a government hospital in Sana’a for a few years.
In 2011, she returned home – to the city of Kochi in southern India – and married Mr Thomas, a tuk-tuk driver.
The couple moved to Yemen together shortly after. But financial difficulties forced Mr. Thomas to return to India with his daughter.
Fed up with low-paying hospital jobs, Namsha decided to open her own clinic in Yemen.
As he has a local partner according to the law there, he opens the clinic together with Mehdi, a store owner.
Initially the two had a good relationship – Mehdi accompanied Namisha on a brief visit to India for her daughter’s baptism.
“He seemed like a nice guy when he came to our house,” Mr Thomas told the BBC.
But the Mahdi’s attitude, Mr Thomas alleged, “suddenly changed” when Yemen’s civil war broke out in 2014.
At that time, Namisha was trying to finalize the paperwork so that her husband and daughter could rejoin her.
But after the war started, the Indian government banned all travel to Yemen, making it impossible for him to accompany her.
In the days that followed, thousands of Indians were expelled from the country, but Namisha chose to stay, as she had taken on a huge loan to open her clinic.
Getty ImagesMr Thomas said it was around then that Namisha began to complain about Mehdi’s behaviour, including allegations of physical violence.
A petition filed in court by a group called Save Namsha Priya International Action Council alleged that Mehdi took away all her money, took away her passport and threatened her with a gun.
After Mehdi’s body was discovered in 2017, police accused Namisha of killing her by giving her a “sedative overdose” and allegedly dismembering her body.
Nimisha denied the allegations. In court, his lawyer argued that he had tried to sedate Mehdi in order to get his passport, but that the dose had been mistakenly overdosed.
In 2020, a local court sentenced Namisha to death. Three years later, in 2023, his family challenged the verdict in Yemen’s Supreme Court, but their appeal was rejected.
Despite so many twists and turns, the family is not ready to give up hope.
“My heart says we can reach a settlement and save Namisha’s life,” Mr Thomas said.
More than anything, she said she worries about her daughter, now 13, who has “never experienced a mother’s love”.
“They talk on the phone every week and my daughter gets upset if she misses a call,” Mr Thomas said.
“She needs her mother. What will she do without her?”
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