Nimisha Priya case reconciliation claim untrue: Victim's brother

KOCHI: Confusion prevails over revocation of death sentence of Nimisha Priya, the Kerala nurse on death row in Yemen for 2017 murder of a Yemeni citizen, with the victim's brother contesting claims by an eminent cleric that an "agreement" has been reached.

Victim Talal Abdo Mahdi's brother, Abdul Fattah Mahdi, rejected the claims by Kerala Sunni cleric Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musaliyar in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

MEA also didn't confirm the reports. Kanthapuram's office Monday said Nimisha's death sentence was revoked following mediation between Yemeni religious scholars and govt officials. Nimisha's execution was earlier scheduled for July 16 but postponed, purportedly on the intervention of Kanthapuram.

In his post, Fattah asked Kanthapuram's office to clarify who communicated with Talal's family and his blood heirs. "I do not believe the preacher's office would issue such statements unless someone provided them false information that we accepted reconciliation, which is absolutely untrue," he wrote.