‘Justice, Not Deals’: Kerala Nurses’s Life In Limbo As Victim’s Brother Rejects ‘Blood Money Offer’

<p>The execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted of murdering a Yemeni national in 2017, has been postponed &mdash; but the victim&rsquo;s family remains resolute in demanding capital punishment.</p>
<p>Priya, a 38-year-old nurse from Kollengode in Kerala&rsquo;s Palakkad district, was sentenced to death in 2020 by a Yemeni court for the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi. She has been imprisoned in Sana&rsquo;a, the Houthi-controlled capital of Yemen, since her conviction.&nbsp;</p>
<p>She was scheduled to be executed on July 16, but the punishment was deferred after the intervention of India’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Despite the temporary reprieve, the victim&rsquo;s family has made it clear that they are unwilling to accept any settlement or mediation. In a strongly worded Facebook post written in Arabic, Talal&rsquo;s brother, Abdelfattah Mahdi, reaffirmed the family&rsquo;s demand for retribution, declaring that “blood cannot be bought.”</p>
<p>He acknowledged that repeated efforts had been made over the years to initiate reconciliation, both formally and informally, but maintained that these efforts had not swayed the family&rsquo;s stance.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What is achieved and heard today from mediation and attempts for peace is nothing new or surprising. Throughout our years, there have been hidden pursuits and efforts to mediate. This is normal and expected…But the pressure has not changed anything in us. Our demand is retribution, nothing else,&rdquo; Mahdi said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Delay won&rsquo;t flex, pressure won&rsquo;t move us, and blood cannot be bought. And the truth is not forgotten. Retribution will come no matter how long the road takes. It is just a matter of time and with God&rsquo;s help (it will happen),&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p>Priya’s legal options appear to have run out after Yemen&rsquo;s Supreme Judicial Council dismissed her final appeal in November 2023. Her family and supporters have been seeking diplomatic intervention, including attempts at securing a pardon through Yemen’s tribal justice system by offering “blood money” &mdash; a practice recognised in parts of the Arab world. However, with the victim’s family standing firm, prospects of a negotiated reprieve look increasingly slim.</p>
<p>The victim’s family has maintained its stance of not accepting mediation. “Our stance on the attempts at reconciliation is clear; we insist on implementing God’s Law in Qisas [retaliation in kind], nothing else,” Mahdi told BBC Arabic on Monday, before the execution was postponed.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He claimed that his family had suffered “not only from the brutal crime but also the long, exhausting litigation process in a horrible and heinous but obvious crime case”.</p>
<p>”We feel sorry to see the attempts to distort the truth, especially from the Indian media that portrays the convicted as a victim, to justify the crime. And we say it clearly that they are aiming to influence public opinion,” he said.</p>
<p>”Any dispute, whatever its reasons and however big, can never justify a murder – let alone dismembering, mutilating and hiding the body,” Mahdi said.&nbsp;</p>