The Indian government informed the Supreme Court on Monday that there is little it can do to prevent Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya’s execution in Yemen, scheduled for July 16.
Nimisha, 37, from Palakkad, has been sentenced to death for the alleged murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. According to her family, she was trying to sedate Mahdi to recover her confiscated passport and escape after suffering abuse. However, Mahdi died from the sedative dose.
Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court, “There’s nothing much the government can do… Yemen is not diplomatically recognized by India.” The government also stressed that while efforts were underway through private channels, official intervention was constrained by the sensitive political situation in Yemen, which is controlled by Iran-backed Houthis.
The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by an NGO seeking urgent government action to save Nimisha. Her family has offered ₹8.6 crore as “blood money”—a legal provision under Sharia law that allows the victim’s kin to pardon the convict in exchange for compensation.
The Centre clarified that such negotiations are a private matter, though it is trying to engage “some Sheikh, influential people there” discreetly.
“It’s not a case where the government can be compelled to act beyond its capacity,” Venkataramani said, expressing regret over the grim situation.
Nimisha moved to Yemen in 2011 for work. After her husband and daughter returned to India, she remained to run a clinic with Mahdi. Following the fallout, she was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to death in 2020.
The court will take up the matter again on Friday, July 18.