Nimisha Priya's release: Iran holds talks with Houthi rebel group

TEHRAN: Iran held talks with a representative of the Houthi rebel group for the release of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with Houthi leader Abdul Salam. The discussion with the Houthi representative took place after the Iranian Foreign Minister met with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Muscat. Iran had previously stated that they were in talks with Yemen regarding this matter.

Nimisha Priya's release was discussed in the Rajya Sabha the other day. It was MP John Brittas who raised the issue in Parliament. Responding to this, Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said that, as per the request of Nimisha Priya’s family, $40,000 was transferred to the family of the deceased through the Ministry of External Affairs' account. The External Affairs Minister mentioned that discussions between Nimisha Priya's family and the family of the deceased were ongoing for the next steps.

Nimisha Priya's mother was provided with the facility to travel to Yemen. A Power of Attorney was appointed for the discussion. Legal assistance was arranged using the Ministry of External Affairs' funds. Assistance was also provided to deliver the blood money, collected by the Action Council for the family of the deceased, to Yemen. However, the release of Nimisha Priya could only be secured if the negotiations between the two families were successful, the minister said.

Nimisha Priya was arrested in July 2017 and sentenced to death in 2020. All her appeals were rejected. Reports about the Yemeni President upholding her death sentence emerged after the second instalment of the blood money payment was delayed.