Death sentence of Kerala nurse cancelled in Yemen, Grand Mufti’s office confirms

The death sentence of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who remains lodged in a jail in Yemen for murder, has been overturned by local authorities, according to the office of the Indian Grand Mufti Kanthapuram AP Abubakker Muslaiyar. Grand Mufti Muslaiyar had intervened in the case earlier this month, which led to a pause on Nimisha's execution just a day before it was scheduled to take place on July 16. His office now says that her death sentence has been cancelled following a top-level meeting held in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, news agency ANI reported.

What did Grand Mufti's office say?

The office of Grand Mufti Muslaiyar said in a statement: "The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, which was previously suspended, has been overturned." It added, "A high-level meeting held in Sanaa decided to completely cancel the death sentence that was temporarily suspended earlier." The news comes after Nimisha's family, including her husband Thomas and their 13-year-old daughter Mishel, reached Yemen to join Indian evangelist KA Paul to urge the authorities to release her.

Nimisha, a 38-year-old from Kerala's Palakkad district, trained as a nurse and moved to Yemen in 2008. After working at several hospitals, Nimisha opened her clinic in partnership with Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2014, as rules there mandate partnering with a local for starting a business. But Nimisha had a fallout with Mahdi, after which she filed a complaint against him.