Won't pardon Nimisha: Brother of victim at centre of execution case

Hours after the Yemeni authorities deferred the execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya until a new date was announced, the brother of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the Yemeni man she murdered in 2017, on Wednesday said that his family does not wish anything less than the execution of the convict.

- Vishnu Varma

While the deferral of the capital punishment was welcomed by the family of Priya and the Indian authorities, the stated position of Mahdi’s family has cast a cloud over the efforts to seek the release of the Kerala nurse. Under the Islamic law, implemented in Yemen, a convict can escape punishment if the victim's family agrees to diyat, a form of financial compensation, in exchange for seeking qisas, or retribution.