What Is Blood Money? Only Option Now To Save Kerala Nurse On Death Row In Yemen

A pall of gloom descended upon the family of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya after the Supreme Court in Yemen rejected her appeal against the death penalty that was handed to her for murdering a Yemeni native. Priya, who has been imprisoned in Yemen since 2017, can be hanged anytime but there is still a glimmer of hope for her family to save the Malayali nurse. And that is by paying “blood money” to the family of the deceased.

But, here too, there is a hurdle. Priya’s family cannot travel to Yemen as India has imposed a travel ban on the countrymen since 2017 due to the protracted civil war in the Arab country.

The complex situation has led the nurse’s mother, a daily wage labourer, to knock on the doors of the Delhi High Court. Priya’s mother has urged the court to give her permission to travel to Yemen to negotiate with the victim’s family on blood money to secure her release. The Delhi HC has now put the ball in the Centre’s court to decide on the matter.

But, how did Nimisha Priya land in Yemen? What prompted her to kill the Yemeni national? And what is blood money? Let’s decode the complex situation.

Who Is Nimisha Priya? Why Did She Travel To Yemen?

Priya, who hails from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad, completed her nursing training course in 2008 before moving to Yemen — then a favourite destination for nurses from the southern state. Three years later, Priya married Tony Thomas and they had a child. The next year, Priya returned to Sana’a city in Yemen along with her child and husband, who worked as an electrician.

However, Priya’s job did not provide enough income for their livelihood and she decided to open her own clinic. However, as per Yemeni law, it is mandatory for a person to partner with a local to start any business.

In search of a business partner, Priya sought help from a Yemeni resident Talal Abdo Mahdi, who used to visit the clinic she worked in and was known to her husband as well, according to media reports. While initially Mahdi agreed to help, he later backed out after differences cropped up between them.

In the meantime, Priya’s husband and her child returned to Kerala in 2014 to arrange for funds. With all hopes dashed, Priya found help from her friend Abdul Hanan, who gave financial support to open the clinic in 2015. Here is when a civil war broke out between the Yemeni government and the Houthi insurgents, preventing Priya’s husband from moving back to Yemen.

READ | Who Is Nimisha Priya? Kerala Nurse Sentenced To Death In Yemen In A Murder Case

Priya’s clinic started doing good business but soon Mahdi began harassing the nurse for money, media reports said. As the threats continued, Priya filed a police complaint against Mahdi due to which he was briefly arrested in 2016. In the court, Mahdi forged documents to claim Priya as his wife.

Upon his release, Mahdi seized Priya’s passport and also physically abused her. As the abuse escalated, Priya hatched a plan to retrieve her passport. In a bid to make Mahdi unconscious, Priya administered him a sedative injection but he died due to an overdose, media reports said citing case records.

A panicked Priya then approached her friend Hanan, who advised her to dispose of the body. They chopped Mahdi’s body into pieces and dumped them in a water tank, reports claimed.

Despite their efforts, police discovered their crime and arrested them in August 2017. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment, but Nimisha’s sentence was later changed to death by hanging when the case went to the High Court.

What Is Blood Money?

With all legal options now exhausted, Priya’s hopes now rest upon two possibilities — a pardon by the President of Yemen or payment of blood money to the family of Mahdi.

As per the law in Yemen, a convict can be released from prison if a sum, known as “blood money”, is paid to the victim’s family. In this scenario, the convict’s sentence would stand cancelled and he/she would be granted mercy.

Blood money payments to compensate for deaths or accidents are an usual affair in Gulf countries. In 2021, businessman and LuLu Group chairman MA Yusuffali paid blood money worth Rs 1 crore to help secure the release of a Malayali driver who was sentenced to death in Abu Dhabi for killing a Sudanese boy in a car accident, accoridng to a report in The Hindu.

Can Nimisha Priya Be Saved?

Mahdi’s family has demanded 50 million Yemeni riyals (approximately Rs 1.5 crore) as blood money. However, to negotiate the blood money, Priya’s mother would have to travel to Yemen. Since 2017, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has banned travel to Yemen.

In 2020, the Save Nimish Priya International Action Council was formed and it has kept the hopes alive for the nurse’s family through appeals to the government for diplomatic interventions and by seeking support from various quarters.

During the hearing in the Delhi HC, the Centre’s lawyer said as per a recent notification, the travel ban to Yemen might be relaxed for specific reasons and durations. As per Delhi HC directions, Priya’s family has submitted relevant documents to the External Affairs Ministry for its approval to travel to Yemen. The ball is now in the Centre’s court to secure Priya’s release.