MEA busts fake claims about govt seeking funds for Nimisha Priya case

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday termed "fake" the claims made on social media that government is seeking monetary contributions for the case relating to Indian nurse Nimisha Priya who is currently lodged in a jail in Yemen.

In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official FactCheck shared a screenshot of a post, where the user had demanded donation in Government of India account to save Nimisha Priya and even mentioned that they need 8.3 crore rupees.

"We have seen claims being made on social media seeking monetary contributions into a GoI designated bank account in the Nimisha Priya case. This is a fake claim," the MEA FactCheck handle wrote on X while sharing the screenshot of a "fake" social media post.

Priya is facing a death penalty for the alleged murder of her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, in 2017. She was to be executed on July 13, but following the lengthy period of multipronged negotiations, her execution was kept in abeyance.

She moved to Yemen in 2008 to support her family and initially worked as a nurse before opening her clinic. In 2017, following a dispute with Mehdi -- her business partner -- she allegedly administered sedatives to him in a bid to retrieve her confiscated passport. However, the sedatives proved fatal. Priya was arrested while attempting to flee the country and was convicted of murder in 2018.

A death sentence was handed down in 2020 and upheld by Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. However, the court allowed the possibility of clemency through a 'blood money' arrangement. For the unversed, 'blood money' is monetary compensation to the family of the person killed in exchange for forgiveness. It is an accepted practice under Sharia law.

While addressing a `weekly media briefing earlier this month, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called the Nimisha Priya case a "sensitive matter" and stated that India continues to closely follow the matter. He urged all sides to stay away from misinformation on the case while reiterating the sensitivity of the matter.

When asked about the update on Nimisha Priya case, Jaiswal responded, "As I had informed you earlier, this is a sensitive matter and the Government of India has been offering all possible assistance in the case. As a result of our concerted efforts you’ve seen that the sentencing was deferred. We continue to closely follow the matter and render all possible assistance. We are also in touch with some friendly governments on this particular issue. I would also like to underline this particular point that this is a sensitive and complex case and therefore would urge all to be mindful that media reports based on speculation and misinformation are not helpful at all. In so far as reports claiming that there has been certain developments etc, such reports are incorrect, please wait for an update from us. This is a sensitive matter and we urge all sides to stay away from misinformation."

--IANS

akl/as