Family of the Kerala women seeking permission to visit Yemen before the death penalty

Nimisha Priya's mother and daughter, as well as four members of the 'Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council,' have requested permission to see her in Yemen from the foreign ministry. Indian nurse Nimisha was condemned to death for the murder of a Yemeni national who had hidden her passport and held her as a slave in Yemen.

The action council has resolved to visit with the Yemeni citizen's family and apologise in person. Nimisha's mother, Premakumari, and her eight-year-old daughter, as well as four members of the 'Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council,' have chosen to travel to Yemen in a last-ditch bid to free her.

Nimisha claimed in a letter to her mother last week that the event was "an accidental error" and that she hoped the Yemeni citizen's family and the community would forgive her. She also addressed a letter to the action council, expressing her fears about whether the authorities and the dead citizen's family would show her clemency.

Members of the action council hope to get the group to Yemen as soon as feasible in order to obtain Nimisha's temporary release. Since 2016, Indian citizens have been restricted from travelling to Yemen. Because of the embargo, the organisation is unable to travel to Yemen without first obtaining authorization.

Nimisha was charged with the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national. He died in July 2017 after reportedly being injected with sedatives in order to gain access to her passport, which was in his hands. Mahdi was accused of abusing and torturing Nimisha.

In Yemen, where the legal and judicial systems are inherently weak, Islamic tribal law, old Egyptian laws, and Napoleonic codes still determines the fate. Islamic legal principles are applied in all courts in Yemen.