SC agrees to hear plea to halt Indian nurse Nimisha Priya's execution in Yemen

Nimisha Priya

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea seeking to halt the execution of nurse Nimisha Priya who has been sentenced to death in Yemen. Scheduled to be executed on July 16, Priya has been convicted of murdering a Yemen national Talal Abdo Mehdi in 2017.

The petitioner, an organisation named 'Save Nimisha Priya Action Council', seeks directions to the Centre to secure her release from Yemen through diplomatic channels.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi listed the matter for hearing on July 14 after advocate Subhash Chandran KR said diplomatic channels need to be explored at the earliest. He submitted that payment of blood money to the family of the deceased permissible under Sharia law can be explored.

"The family of the deceased may pardon the Kerala nurse if blood money is paid," he submitted.

Samuel Jerome Baskaran, a social worker mediating between Yemeni authorities and the victim's family, had confirmed on July 8 that the public prosecutor has issued formal execution orders to prison officials. "The execution is scheduled for July 16. Options are still open. The Indian government can intervene in the matter to save her life," Baskaran said.

A 38-year-old nurse from Kerala, Priya had been working in Yemen for several years. She had set up a clinic with the help of Talal in Sana. She, however, reportedly suffered mental, physical, and financial abuse. The circumstances surrounding the alleged abuse culminated in the murder. The nurse on death row allegedly injected Talal with sedatives to retrieve her passport which was in his possession.

Nimisha Priya was sentenced to death in 2020, and her final appeal was rejected in 2023. She is currently imprisoned in a jail in Yemeni capital Sanaa. The nurse's mother, Prema Kumari, a domestic worker from Kochi, has been in Yemen for nearly a year campaigning for her daughter’s life. In December 2023, she moved the Delhi High Court to lift travel restrictions and has since managed to meet Nimisha in prison.