KOCHI: The husband of Keralite nurse Nimisha Priya, on the death row in Yemen after being convicted of murdering a Yemeni national in 2018, is clinging to hope of “a last-minute pardon” as the clock ticks on his wife’s sentence after President Rashad al-Alimi gave his assent to the verdict last week.
“We haven’t slept since the presidential order. We continue to pray. We are told the death sentence will be executed within a month of the president’s sanction…Can’t imagine life without her (Nimisha),” the Palakkad native’s husband Tomy Thomas, an autorickshaw driver from Thodupuzha in Idukki, told TOI Thursday.
Nimisha’s mother Prema Kumari, who is in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, made an impassioned appeal to the Indian government the previous day to do whatever it takes to save her daughter’s life.
Tomy said “mistakes may have happened”, for which he sought forgiveness and support for his wife’s pardon from the family of the victim, Talal Abdo Mahdi. If the victim’s family and community leaders in Yemen accept blood money in return for pardon, Nimisha may yet be saved, he said.
Tomy spoke to his wife, who is in a central prison, two days before the presidential sanction of her death sentence. “During our brief conversation over the phone, Nimisha was optimistic and talked about reuniting with us – our daughter Michele, my mother-in-law Prema Kumari, and I,” he said.
Since his wife was imprisoned, the auto driver has been working extra hours to pay for the education of their daughter in a boarding school in Kothamangalam.
Tomy described Nimisha as “gentle, warm, and incapable of harming anyone”.
Mahdi, for whose murder Nimisha has been convicted and sentenced, was her business “sponsor”. She sought Mahdi’s help to run her clinic in Sana’a, as mandated by Yemeni law. Mahdi allegedly tortured Nimisha and illegally seized her passport, leading to his murder.
A trial court handed her the death sentence in 2018. An appeals court upheld it.
“Recently, she told me that her status as a medical caregiver has earned her affection of both inmates and officials at the prison. They celebrated her birthday there, ensuring that her day was special. We didn’t even wish her in the midst of the stress, but she said she felt as if she had a family in prison,” Tomy said.
Tomy had accompanied Nimisha to Yemen in 2012, just a year after their marriage. Michele was born there. Father and daughter returned home in 2014 due to the civil war in Yemen. Nimisha stayed back to run her clinic, which she had started by investing her and Tomy’s savings. “We are now in a mess emotionally and financially. After Nimisha’s arrest, the clinic was shut,” he said.
The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council has initiated the second round of negotiations with Mahdi’s family and the area’s tribal chief. The Indian embassy is part of the effort.
