The family of Yemeni citizen Talal Mahdi urged authorities to uphold their right for retribution and rejected any suggestion of a pardon for an Indian nurse convicted of his murder.

The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala in southern India, was set for July 16 in Sanaa for the murder and dismembering of Mr Mahdi in 2017. Her execution was postponed after an 11th-hour appeal from her family was accepted by Yemeni prosecutors.

Mr Mahdi’s relatives have questioned the reprieve and called for a new execution date, turning down mediation efforts by the nurse's family and supporters.

“The false rumours have made the family of the victim all the more determined for the death sentence to be carried out and to close off any avenue of communication with them regarding a pardon,” Waddah Qutaish, the Mahdi family lawyer, told The National.

Abdel Fattah Mahdi, Talal's elder brother, has denied media reports that an Indian spiritual leader last month evoked the family’s forgiveness to revoke the death penalty.

In a petition to the Attorney General, Mr Mahdi called for “prompt execution of the qisas [retribution] ruling against the convicted Nimisha Priya”.

"We, the legal heirs of the victim, reaffirm our full commitment to our legitimate right to the implementation of the qisas ruling. We categorically reject all attempts at reconciliation or mediation," he said in a Facebook post.

The family has described the murder as a “crime beyond all bounds of humanity”.

Ms Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, in Sanaa to support her daughter, said she respected Mr Mahdi’s family and appealed for forgiveness.