Kochi: The appeals court in Yemen is expected to deliver on Monday its verdict on a plea submitted by Nimisha Priya, a nurse belonging to Kollengode in Palakkad district of Kerala, to commute her death sentence.
Nimisha is presently in jail after being found guilty of killing a Yemeni man for which she was sentenced to death.
The appeals court can reject her plea, reduce her death sentence to life imprisonment or even let her free. Nimisha’s family hopes that the court would adopt a lenient attitude considering her status as a woman and a mother. Nimisha has to look after a son aged six years and an elderly mother.
These facts have already been presented before the appeals court by Nimisha’s lawyer. The court had then ordered the lawyer to present his final statement on the case on Monday.
According to the legal process followed in Yemen, the appeals court would immediately pronounce its verdict after this final statement.
In the event of the appeals court confirming the death sentence, Nimisha can approach the Supreme Judicial Council headed by the President of Yemen for reducing her punishment. However, the council rarely cancels the order of an appeals court but only checks whether proper procedures were followed.
The chilling case
Nimisha Priya was found guilty of murdering Yemen citizen Talal Abdu Mahadi, chopping his body into pieces and dumping them in a water tank in 2017. A trial court had initially awarded her death sentence in 2018.
Nimisha hails from Kerala's Palakkad district. She is a trained nurse and had worked in private hospitals in Yemen for a few years.
In 2014, she joined hands with Mahadi to set up her own clinic in Yemen's capital city Sana'a. She sought Mahadi's support because, under Yemen law, only nationals are allowed to set up clinics and business firms.
Torture and abuses
Soon, Nimisha's life turned into a hell. Mahadi seized her passport. This was done to ensure that she would not leave Yemen. He tortured her under the influence of drugs. He threatened her at gunpoint several times. He took all the money from the clinic and her ornaments.
Unable to cope with the torture, Nimisha complained to the police. They arrested Mahadi was put him behind bars. On his return from jail, the severity of the torture increased manifold.
Plotting the murder
Nimisha soon realised the Mahadi would not allow her to live a normal life. Hence she started plotting his murder. She found an able ally in Hanan, a Yemeni nurse who worked with her.
The duo injected Mahadi with an overdose of anaesthetic. Mahadi died in a few hours. But the duo could not find a place to bury him. So they chopped him into pieces, put them in a polythene bag and dumped in the water tank of her apartment.
Running from Sana'a & arrest
After the murder, Nimisha ran away from Sana'a. She found a job at a hospital some 200km away from the capital. A few days later, residents complained of stench from the water tank near her old clinic. When they opened it up, they saw Mahadi's chopped body.
Police soon launched a massive hunt to trace Nimisha. They published her photographs in major newspapers. Soon she was arrested.
