How efforts to delay Indian nurse Nimisha Priya’s execution in Yemen unfolded

Lodged in the central prison of Yemen’s Sana’a, Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya has a reason to hope. She will not be executed tomorrow (July 16), her counsel has said.

The execution was reportedly halted by the authorities in Yemen, sources told CNN-News18. However, the fresh date for her execution was not immediately known.

The 38-year-old is facing a death sentence for murdering a Yemeni citizen and her business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, in 2017. Back in India, efforts are on at various levels to save Nimisha Priya from the gallows. The latest to step in is the Grand Mufti – top Sunni leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar.

There is only one legal route to save the 38-year-old Malayali nurse: To convince the victim’s family to accept blood money. Under the Sharia law, which governs Yemen, this legally sanctioned financial compensation to the family of the murder victim is a valid alternative to capital punishment. However, it has to be accepted by the kin.

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Here’s everything that is being done in India to help Nimisha Priya secure a lifeline.

The big decision to delay Nimisha Priya’s execution

Samuel Jerome Bhaskaran, a social worker and an airline consultant, is one of the key negotiators in the case. He said that the decision to delay the sentencing was taken by the Yemeni government.

Abdul Malik Al Nehaya, ruler of the Al Wasab region, met the President of Yemen on Friday (July 11). A day later, President Rashad al-Alimi consented to defer the execution, he told The Indian Express.  “The Indian government also got involved in this mission. There was a directive from the Yemen authorities not to disclose the details,” he told the publication.

The Indian govt opens ‘unofficial channels’

The matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday. The plea was filed by Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, an organisation fighting to save the nurse’s life.

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The Centre told the top court that the blood money settlement was the only option to save the Kerala nurse. However, Attorney General of India (AGI) R Venkataram added that the government has limited ability to intervene because of the lack of diplomatic leverage.

India does not have formal diplomatic relations with the Houthis, the rebel group which controls parts of Yemen, including the capital Sana’a where Nimisha Priya is a convict.

The AGI informed the apex court that the government was in touch with Yemeni authorities, including the public prosecutor, and was trying to delay the nurse’s execution.

The Indian government has also opened unofficial channels. The government lawyer said India reached out to “an influential sheikh” in Yemen to persuade the authorities there. “We got an informal communication that the execution would be put in abeyance, but we don’t know if it will work out,” the AGI added.

Influential Sunni cleric, Yemen scholar part of negotiations

The Grand Mufti joined efforts to convince Mehdi’s kin to accept the blood money.

Nimisha Priya’s lawyer, Subhash Chandran, said that efforts are ongoing to save the nurse’s life through the intervention of the influential Sunni cleric. Through Musliyar, also known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, they have reached out to a family member and some local and religious leaders in Yemen.

“We are trying our best so that the family accepts the blood money and the Kerala nurse is spared from death row,” Chandran told The New Indian Express (TNIE).

Those close to the negotiations said that the Grand Mufti had stepped in personally and was making efforts to open a channel of negotiation. He held talks with religious authorities in Yemen who are in touch with the victim’s family, the report said.

Musliara also reached out to Mehdi’s brother through a prominent Yemeni Islamic scholar in a last-ditch effort to save Nimisha Priya.

A negotiation team was working around the clock, knowing that the execution date was fast approaching. An office was opened at Musliyar’s headquarters in Kerala to coordinate the process.

Following Musaliyar’s intervention, under Yemeni Sufi scholar Sheikh Umar bin Hafiz’s leadership, discussions are being held in Yemen with the family of the deceased. A Yemeni Supreme Court judge is also part of these talks, say sources. The latest round of talks was held on Monday night, say reports.

All the efforts were focused on delaying the execution date.

A trust that earlier helped save Abdul Rahim, a Kerala native who was freed from Saudi jail in 2006 by offering blood money, has reportedly offered a Rs 11 crore fund for Nimisha Priya, according to Onmanorama.

Kerala CM writes to PM Modi

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sent a letter to PM Narendra Modi on Sunday (July 13), urging him to intervene and take steps to release Nimisha Priya.

“It is learnt from the media that the execution of Nimisha Priya has been fixed for July 16, 2025. Considering the fact that this is a case deserving sympathy, I appeal to the Prime Minister to take up the matter and intervene with the authorities concerned to save the life of Nimisha Priya,” the letter said.

The CM also attached a letter sent to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in March, requesting him to give directions to the Indian embassy to intervene in the matter.

Last week, Kerala MPs K Radhakrishnan and John Brittas also urged the Centre to step in with urgent diplomatic intervention.

Desperate efforts by Nimisha Priya’s family

Nimisha Priya’s husband, Tomy Thomas, met the Kerala Governor on July 14. He was accompanied by Congress MP Chandy Oommen, who facilitated the meeting with Governor Rajendra Arlekar in Thiruvananthapuram.

Thomas told India Today TV, “The Governor has taken the issue seriously. He has promised me that he will inform the central government about it. He has spoken to them. Chandy Oommen and his mother (former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s wife) also met the Governor. Nimisha’s mother wanted to speak to him. So we called her on video and he asked her to stay strong. He has promised all help.”

Nimisha Priya’s mother has been in Yemen since last year. She told The Indian Express, “I met my daughter in jail last month. She is suffering in silence.”

The nurse’s family made a last-ditch plea for clemency by offering $1 million (approximately Rs 8.6 crore) as blood money to the victim’s family.

The case against Nimisha Priya

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, moved to Yemen in 2008. She was working at hospitals before starting her clinic with the help of Mehdi. However, she was accused of killing him in 2017. The nurse allegedly faced physical, mental and financial abuse, which led to the murder.

A trial court in Yemen awarded Nimisha Priya a death sentence, which was upheld by the country’s Supreme Court. Last year, Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi approved the death sentence for Nimisha Priya. The order has been with the prosecutor since January this year.

It remains to be seen if Nimisha Priya can be saved from the gallows. Today is a small victory for all those who have been working tirelessly for the nurse.

With inputs from agencies