The mother of an Indian nurse facing the death penalty for the murder of a Yemeni citizen is clinging to hope her daughter will be pardoned by the victim’s family.

Nimisha Priya was scheduled to be executed in Sanaa on June 16 for the murder and dismembering of Yemeni citizen Talal Mahdi in 2017. 

Yemen’s prosecutors accepted an 11th-hour appeal from her mother Prema Kumari urging for the execution to be postponed.

Ms Kumari is in Yemen to support her daughter who has been imprisoned in Sanaa for the past eight years.

“I can only ask them to forgive my daughter so she can get out of this,” Ms Kumari told The National in an interview from Sanaa. “I spoke to Nimisha a few days ago. She is under a lot of stress and tension. 

The false news being spread makes her very tense.”

Ms Kumari sends her daughter messages daily by a phone in the prison.

“I tell her to be courageous. I ask her to pray, not to get disturbed by the news floating around and to have faith that everything will be fine,” she said.