Justice Kurian Joseph to lead efforts to secure release of Kerala woman convicted of murder in Yemen

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph is set to lead the efforts to secure the release of Nimisha Priya, a woman from Kerala who is on death row in Yemen..Priya was convicted of the murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi. Her appeal was also rejected by the Yemen Appeal Court.Yemeni law provides for the release of a convict if the victim’s family pardons the crime. The law also provides for payment of blood money to the victim’s family in exchange for a pardon..Two teams have been put in action to secure Priya’s release. While Justice Joseph, along with a few former diplomats will collaborate with government and non-governmental agencies as well as International organisations, Priya’s mother and her daughter will visit Yemen to try to meet with the victim’s family to hold talks and tender an apology.Supreme Court Advocate KR Subhash Chandran, social activists Rafeeq Rauthar and Babu John, and Advocate Deepa Joseph will also be with Priya's family. .Earlier, an organisation named Save Nimisha Priya had approached the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Central government to initiate diplomatic efforts talks with the victim’s family.While the Court requested the Centre to facilitate Priya’s family’s travel to Yemen, it declined to direct the government to indulge in any negotiation with the victim’s family. It said that no directions can be passed to the government in this regard.This week, an appeal against this order was also rejected by the High Court..Nimisha Priya, who worked as a nurse in Yemen, was convicted for a murder in 2017. It was alleged that she injected Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi with sedatives so that she could take her passport from him while he was unconscious. Mahdi, however, died of an overdose, the plea filed in the Delhi High Court said.It was alleged that Mahdi had forged documents to show that he was married to Priya, who had sought his help to start her own clinic. However, it was alleged that Mahdi cheated her financially and later started torturing her.A Yemeni court convicted her for the murder and sentenced her to death in 2020. The sentence was appealed before a Sana’a court, which rejected the plea earlier this month.The petition before the Delhi High Court stated that even though another chance of appeal the Yemeni Supreme Court/Supreme Judicial Council exists with Priya, it is unlikely that she will be spared the punishment awarded by the lower court. Therefore, her only hope to avoid the death sentence was if the victim’s family accepted blood money.“Now, the only way for her to escape from the death penalty is to gain pardon from the family of the deceased by paying blood money to the family in accordance with the law of land. It is come to know from the lawyer who represented her before the appeal court that the option for "blood money" is kept open by the appeal court,” the plea stated.It was argued that Priya's only child, a nine-year-old girl, is living in an orphanage, her mother is a domestic help in Kerala and her husband is an auto-rickshaw driver. The entire family is facing serious challenges while navigating the legal processes in Yemen, the plea pointed out.“If family of the victim agreed to pardon her by receiving blood money, the petitioner is unable to pay the same as financial transactions to Yemen are also restricted by the Indian authorities. The petitioner herein as well as the family of Nimisha Priya has made many representations / communications to respondents regarding the case of Nimisha Priya but did not receive any positive reply from them,” the petition said..[Kerala woman sentenced to death for murder in Yemen] Can't direct government to enter into negotiation with deceased's family: Delhi High Court

Justice Kurian Joseph to lead efforts to secure release of Kerala woman convicted of murder in Yemen

Prashant Jha

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