SC agrees to hear plea seeking diplomatic intervention to save Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya facing execution in Yemen

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear an urgent plea seeking a direction to the Centre to intervene diplomatically in the case of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya who has been sentenced to death in Yemen.

The woman, convicted for the murder of a Yemeni national, is reportedly scheduled to be executed on July 16. The petitioner has requested the government to use diplomatic channels to halt the execution and secure her release or commutation.

A bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani in the matter and agreed to take it up on Friday.


Who is Nimisha Priya and what is the case about?
Priya, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala's Palakkad district, was found guilty of murdering a Yemeni man in July 2017. He was her business partner.

In 2020, a Yemeni court handed her the death sentence, and the country's Supreme Judicial Council dismissed her appeal in November 2023.

The 38-year-old nurse is presently lodged in a jail in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.

"We have been closely following the matter since then. We have been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance," PTI quoted a government source as saying.

"We continue to closely follow the matter," it said.

The people cited above said New Delhi is engaged in efforts to prevent the execution that has been scheduled for July 16.

There are certain complicacies in the case as the Indian side has no formal contacts with the Houthi rebels.

Priya's mother Premakumari travelled to Yemen last year as part of efforts to secure her release.

The Indian side had even explored the option of securing Priya's release through "diyat" or paying "blood money". But that also ran into some problems, it is learnt.

(With inputs from PTI)