'I Will Not Give Up Hope': Mother of Kerala Nurse Sentenced to Death in Yemen

Nimisha Priya's mother is preparing to travel to war-torn Yemen to save her daughter from a death sentence.

(Photo: Chetan Bhakuni/The Quint)

Video Editors: Nitin Bisht, Mohd Irshad Alam

"Even if I have to go alone, I don't have to be scared. When I think about my daughter, all my fear goes away," says 57-year-old Prema Kumari, who is preparing to travel to war-torn Yemen.

Working as a caregiver at a house in Kerala's Ernakulam district, Prema Kumari says that she is hopeful – that she is determined to save her daughter Nimisha Priya, a 34-year-old Malayali nurse, from certain death in West Asian country.

"When I see her in Yemen, I have so many things to tell her. I want to ask her if she's happy to see her mummy. I imagine that when she sees me, she will hug me and kiss me," she tells The Quint.

Nimisha Priya has been languishing in a prison in Yemen's Sana'a since 2017 for allegedly murdering Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni local.

She was sentenced to death in 2018, and recently, her appeal was rejected by Yemen's Supreme Court. But on 12 December, the Delhi High Court permitted Prema Kumari to travel to Yemen at her own risk to negotiate 'blood money' with Mahdi's family for Nimisha's release. Blood money or diyya is compensation paid to the victim's family in cases of murder.

'My Daughter Isn't Someone Who Can Do This'

"I got to know that Nimisha was involved in a [murder] case when it appeared in the newspaper. I couldn't believe it. My daughter is not someone who can do this. She only knows how to love," Prema Kumari tells The Quint.

"I don't know what happened. I still don't. I have decided: nobody has openly told me what happened. So, I will believe it only when she tells me."

Nimisha Priya, a native of Palakkad, went to Yemen for work in 2008. She was 19 then. She studied nursing in Kerala and wanted to go abroad for work. "She was trying to go out, but we didn't have enough money. We didn't have anyone to help us. I didn't want her to go. If she went to the Gulf, how would I see her?"

"I was afraid and I tried to stop her trip twice. But she was saying she wanted to go because we were poor. She knew our hardships."

Prema Kumari says that Nimisha chose Yemen because "it wasn't very expensive." "We had two cows. I sold one and arranged some money, that's how we sent her to Yemen," she adds.

What Happened to Nimisha?

Nimisha married Tomy Thomas in 2011, and they have a daughter, who was born in Yemen. Tomy and their daughter returned to Kerala when she was one year old due to financial issues.

But shortly after, in 2015, a civil war broke out in Yemen, changing their lives forever.

"When Tomy returned to Kerala with their daughter, the conflict in Yemen was not as bad. But things escalated after that and he couldn't go back," says Prema Kumari.

"Tomy used to get upset saying she was unreachable, she was not calling him back. I was thinking that she was unreachable because of the war. By the mercy of God, she was alive. But she was not allowed to call us, she was tortured by this brother who lost his life [Mahdi]. He and his family were torturing her."

Nimisha met Talal Abdo Mahdi when she was working as a nurse at a private clinic in Yemen. She wanted to open a clinic of her own but needed the help of a local resident to do so. She entered into a partnership with Mahdi, but it ended due to disagreements over the clinic's revenue.

However, Mahdi allegedly confiscated her passport and 'tortured' her. In 2017, Nimisha allegedly injected him with sedatives to retrieve her passport but he reportedly died of overdose.

Nimisha was then sentenced to death by a Yemeni court in 2018.

'Couldn't Get Her a Proper Lawyer'

"The case was proceeding with the help of the NRI Commissioner in Ernakulam. But that's when the court there gave her the death penalty [in 2018]. The main reason was that when she was being tried in the lower court, we couldn't get her a proper lawyer. There was no one to help her," laments Prema Kumari.

"Only an Arabic-speaking lawyer could have helped her, right? She had asked for help from some friends. If we could have managed some money for a proper lawyer, then she wouldn't be languishing in jail right now. We couldn't do it."

After years of hoping against hope to save her daughter, Prema Kumari is hopeful that Mahdi's family would negotiate the blood money of Rs 70 lakh once she gets to Yemen. She is travelling to the country with the help of an organisation called 'Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council', which is a group of NRIs and activists who have come together to help ensure her release.

"This is the first time I am going there, I don't know anyone there. And she is in jail. Things will happen only if the government intervenes. Now that I am going after the court's ruling, I would need the help of the government, of the embassy. If I don't get help, nothing will happen. I have complete belief that the government and the embassy would help," she tells The Quint.

India does not have diplomatic ties in Yemen, making it near-impossible for Indians to travel to Yemen. Prema Kumari will have to fly to Aden and then travel to Sana'a – a region controlled by Houthi rebels – by road.

"I don't know what their response [Mahdi's family] will be, depending on that I will have to do things. I have 100 percent belief that things won't go against our favour, it will happen, I have hope. Till date, we have not said anything to anyone by hiding the truth. So, I have hope that it won't happen to us," she adds.