After the Yemeni government postponed Indian nurse Nimisha Priya’s execution on charges of murder, her fate rests with the family of the victim, Talal Abdo Mahdi. However, the Mahdi family has said that “justice will prevail even if it is delayed”.
Priya’s execution had been scheduled for July 16, but was postponed by the government in Yemen amid intensified efforts from back home to save her.
After the postponement, Talal’s brother Abdul Fatah Mehdi told BBC Arabic that the family demands Qisas — an Islamic legal term that refers to the principle of retaliation in kind or retributive justice — and that Priya should be executed. He said the family would neither forgive nor accept “blood money” in exchange for sparing Priya’s life.
A functionary of the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council said, “Now, the matter is before the family of the victim. It is a big task to make them forgive the heinous crime. We have to respect the Talal family and understand their sentiments. People should desist from going to the media with unnecessary comments to usurp credit for the postponement of execution, upsetting the entire negotiation process.”
Social worker Samuel Jerome Baskaran, who has been part of the negotiations for the last five years, said the postponement of the execution was a big favour for India from the government in Yemen.
“They (the Yemen government) have been absolutely compassionate. Media reports in Kerala will not save Priya. We have to understand the agony of the family of Talal. Negotiations involving the Indian and Yemeni governments have to be continued to win their confidence and make them forgive the crime. It is a delicate exercise, more so considering the nature of the murder committed by Priya,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Kerala, RJD national council member Saleem Madavoor on Thursday complained to the state police chief, saying some people were making hate comments on the Facebook page of the victim’s brother and that this would have an adverse affect on the efforts to release Priya.
