Yemen postpones execution of Kerala nurse on death row

New Delhi: Authorities in Yemen have postponed the execution of an Indian nurse who is on death row after being found guilty of murder, Foreign Ministry sources say. Nimisha Priya, who was sentenced to death for killing a local man, was set to be executed on July 16, according to campaigners working to save her.

The nurse, who is from Kerala, denied murdering her former business partner Talal Abdo Mahdi, whose chopped-up body was discovered in a water tank in 2017.

The postponement of her execution is only a temporary reprieve - the only way she can be saved is if Mahdi's family pardons her.Yemen's Islamic judicial system, known as Sharia, offers her one last hope - securing a pardon from the victim's family by paying diyah, or blood money, to them. Her relatives and supporters say they have raised $1m and offered it to Mahdi's family."We are still trying to save her. But ultimately the family has to agree for pardon," Babu John, a member of the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, said after the date for her execution was set.

Mahdi's family, however, have made clear that they will settle for nothing less than her being put to death.

"Our stance on the attempts at reconciliation is clear; we insist on implementing God's Law in Qisas (retaliation in kind), nothing else," his brother, Abdelfattah Mahdi, said on Monday, before the execution was postponed.