The brother of the Yemeni man whom Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya is convicted of murdering has said the family would settle for nothing less than capital punishment for her.

Priya’s execution — originally scheduled for Wednesday — was postponed on Tuesday amid efforts by clerics, Malayalis, the Indian government and others to save her life. It’s unclear how long the reprieve will last.

The 36-year-old nurse, mother of an 11-year-old, can be saved only if the family of the victim, Talal Abdo Mahdi, pardons her. The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council is ready to provide $1 million as blood money, sponsor the education of all the children in the Mahdi household, and facilitate their migration to any country they choose.

“We are firm on implementing God’s Law in Qisas (retaliation in kind), nothing else,” Talal’s brother, Abdelfattah Mahdi, told BBC Arabic, insisting there would be no pardon.

“Our family has suffered not only from the brutal crime but also the long, exhausting litigation process in a horrible and heinous but obvious crime case.”

Abdelfattah accused the Indian media of distorting the truth to paint the nurse as
a victim.

“We feel sorry to see the attempts to distort the truth, especially from the Indian media that portrays the convicted (nurse) as a victim to justify the crime,” he said.

Abdelfattah added: “And we say it clearly that they are aiming to influence public opinion. Any dispute, whatever its reasons and however big, can never justify a murder — let alone dismembering, mutilating and hiding the body.”

Priya was convicted of murdering Talal, her then business partner, in July 2017. Reports have said she injected him with sedatives to make him unconscious and retrieve her passport, which was in his possession.

However, she ended up giving him an overdose and, later, allegedly chopped his body into pieces and hid the remains inside a water tank, the reports say.

Abdelfattah on Wednesday maintained on his social media account that the family’s pursuit to ensure death for the nurse would continue unabated.

“The delay in implementing the punishment will not deter us, the pressure will not deter us and also the blood money will not be a replacement for the blood,” he said.

“The truth is not being denied... justice will be met and whatever delay... justice will be met with the help of God.”

India’s external affairs ministry has taken a cautious approach, deciding not to make any adverse comments against Yemen or its judicial system. The ministry has said it remains in touch with the jail authorities and the prosecutor’s office in Yemen.

A Kozhikode-based Sunni cleric, Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar, is continuing with his mission to try and get the deferred execution order quashed somehow.

He has reportedly got the Yemeni Sufi cleric, Habib Umar bin Hafiz, to intervene on behalf of Priya.

A local court had sentenced the nurse to death in 2020.

Priya is now in a jail in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.