SC to hear Monday plea seeking intervention to save Kerala nurse on death row in Yemen

Priya is currently imprisoned in a jail in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.

The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to use diplomatic channels to save an Indian nurse, who is likely to be executed in Yemen on July 16 for murder charges.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the matter.

The matter was mentioned for urgent hearing on July 10 after advocate Subhash Chandran KR said diplomatic channels need to be explored at the earliest.

He had submitted that the 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.

The bench asked the counsel to serve a copy of the petition to the Attorney General and sought his assistance.

Nimisha Priya, 38, a nurse from Palakkad district of Kerala, was convicted of murdering her Yemeni business partner in 2017. She was sentenced to death in 2020, and her final appeal was rejected in 2023.

She is currently imprisoned in a jail in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.

The plea has been filed by an organisation -- Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council -- which is extending legal support to assist the nurse.

The plea cited a media report that stated that the tentative date for the execution of Priya has been fixed as July 16 by the Yemeni administration.