Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted in the murder case of a Yemeni citizen, will be hanged on July 16. 37-year-old Nimisha is a resident of Palakkad district of Kerala and has been imprisoned in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen since 2017. India is making every effort to stop the hanging of Nimisha Priya. Efforts are also going on at the diplomatic level. Although only time will tell whether Nimisha will be able to escape the clutches of death or not, but there have been many such cases in the past when the Government of India has rescued Indian citizens trapped abroad with its tireless efforts. One of these cases is of 2009 when 17 Indian citizens were sentenced to death in the Muslim country United Arab Emirates (UAE). Let us understand the whole matter in detail.

Death sentence of 17 Indians in UAE: A diplomatic victory

In 2009, 17 Indian citizens were sentenced to death in a court in the United Arab Emirates. They were accused of killing a Pakistani citizen. This news created a stir in India, because such a large number of Indians were facing the death penalty on foreign soil together. But thanks to the efforts of the Government of India, the Indian Embassy, ​​and the community, all these lives were saved. In this case, the payment of 'blood money' (Diyat) of about Rs 4 crore and diplomatic efforts played an important role.

Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted in the case of murder of a Yemeni citizen, will be hanged on July 16. 37-year-old Nimisha is a resident of Palakkad district of Kerala and has been imprisoned in Sana's jail in Yemen's capital since 2017. India is making every effort to stop the hanging of Nimisha Priya. Efforts are also going on at the diplomatic level. Although only time will tell whether Nimisha will be able to escape the clutches of death or not, but in the past there have been many cases when the Government of India has rescued Indian citizens trapped abroad through its tireless efforts. One of these cases is of 2009 when 17 Indian citizens were sentenced to death in the Muslim country United Arab Emirates (UAE). Let us understand the whole matter in detail.

Death sentence of 17 Indians in UAE: A diplomatic victory

In 2009, 17 Indian citizens were sentenced to death in a court in the United Arab Emirates. They were accused of killing a Pakistani citizen. This news created a stir in India, because such a large number of Indians were facing the death penalty on foreign soil together. But thanks to the efforts of the Government of India, the Indian Embassy, and the community, all their lives were saved. In this case, the payment of 'blood money' (Diyat) of about Rs 4 crore and diplomatic efforts played an important role.

What was the whole matter?

In January 2009, a case of murder of a Pakistani citizen came to light in Sharjah, UAE. 17 Indians were accused of this murder. Of these, 16 were migrant workers from Punjab and one from Haryana. These people had gone to UAE for construction and other low-income jobs. After initial investigation and court proceedings, they were convicted of killing Misri Khan of Pakistan in a quarrel over smuggling of alcohol. Two people named Mushtaq Ahmed and Shahid Iqbal were injured in this clash.

The complexity of this case was that Sharia law is applicable in UAE, which provides for death penalty for serious crimes like murder. However, Sharia law also has a provision of 'Diyat' i.e. 'Blood Money', under which the punishment can be forgiven by giving compensation to the victim's family. This provision showed a ray of hope in this case.

Who were all the 17 Indians?

The 16 Punjabi labourers included Sukhjinder Singh, Sukhjot Singh, Ram Singh, Arvinder Singh, Baljit Singh, Daljit Singh, Dharampal Singh, Satgur Singh, Satnam Singh, Kashmir Singh, Suban Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Sukhjinder Singh, Namjyot Singh, Amrik Singh and Harjinder Singh. Taranjit Singh was a resident of Haryana. All of them had gone to UAE for labour.