A Malyali mother on a mission to save daughter from death row in Yemen

After meeting her daughter and spending a few hours with her in prison, the mother, Prema Kumari, in a video message said she was not sure she would be able to see Priya.

Thiruvananthapuram: Prema Kumari, aged around 60, hailing from Palakkad in Kerala, on Wednesday visited her daughter Nimisha Priya after 11 years at a prison in Yemen, where the latter is awaiting death sentence on charges of murdering a Yemeni national.

She is now trying to pursue the family of the Yemani national to pardon her daughter and give relief from the sentence.

Prema, who already crossed many hurdles to travel to Yemen, is hopeful of a positive outcome. She had to approach the court to get a nod for travelling owing to the restriction on travelling to Yemen.

Priya, a native of Palakkad district in Kerala, is facing death sentence on charges of murdering  Yemen national Talal Abdu Mahdi allegedly after Mahdi cheated her.

Priya, who was working in Yemen since 2008, got associated with Mahdi for setting up a clinic in 2014. Mahdi allegedly cheated her by making entire investment in his name and refused to return her passport. Provoked over it Priya allegedly sedated him with the intention of taking the passport. But he died of an overdose. Subsequently the body was chopped and dumped in a water tank with the help of another nurse. 

Priya was awarded the death sentence in 2018. An appeal court in Yemen later upheld the death sentence. Hence the only options for getting relief to Priya is to approach the supreme judicial council in Yemen with mercy petition or to pursue the family of the deceased to accept blood money.

The family is financially weak. Her husband Tommy is an autorickshaw driver and they have a daughter. An action council was formed by the local people to work for her relief is supporting the mother's mission.