Woman moves Delhi HC with plea to travel to Yemen to save daughter on death row

New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) The mother of Nimisha Priya, an Indian citizen who has been sentenced to death in Yemen for the murder of a Yemeni national, has approached the Delhi High Court seeking permission to travel to the West Asian country to negotiate with the victim’s family by offering blood money.

Justice Subramonium Prasad has sought a response from the Central government and directed it to file a status report in the matter.

The petitioner, Priya’s mother, is seeking permission to travel to Yemen despite the travel ban imposed on Indian nationals visiting the country.

She believes the only way to save her daughter from death penalty is to negotiate with the deceased’s family by offering blood money. However, she is currently unable to do so due to the travel restrictions.

In March 2022, an appellate court in Yemen had dismissed Priya’s appeal. She was sentenced to death for the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. It is alleged that she injected him with sedatives to retrieve her passport, which he had in his possession. She had reportedly suffered abuse and torture by Mahdi.

Last year, a coordinate bench had disposed of a petition requesting the Central government to facilitate negotiations with the victim’s family to save Priya from death penalty by paying blood money in accordance with Yemeni law.

Subsequently, an appeal against the single judge’s order was dismissed by a division bench.