The central government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it has limited options to secure the release or prevent the execution of Nimisha Priya, the Kerala nurse scheduled to be executed in Yemen on July 16. It categorically said that paying “blood money” is the only remaining option, which is a private matter in which the government cannot directly intervene.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, representing the Centre in the Supreme Court during the hearing of a last-minute plea for government intervention, said there is only so far India can go in the matter, and the government has already reached that limit. “There’s nothing much the government can do. Looking at the sensitivity of Yemen, it’s not diplomatically recognised. Blood money is a private negotiation,” Venkataramani said.
Nimisha Priya, a native of Kerala’s Palakkad district, is accused of drugging and murdering her local business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, a Yemeni national, with the help of another nurse. The two allegedly dismembered his body and disposed of the remains in an underground tank. Nimisha has challenged the charges, but the courts have dismissed her appeals.
However, since the location falls within a Houthi-controlled Sana and due to diplomatic hurdles, government agencies and organisations working for her release have been unable to make any breakthrough.
“There’s a point till which the government of India can go. We have reached that. Yemen is not like any other part of the world. We didn’t want to complicate the situation by going public. We are trying at a private level, some Sheikh, influential people there, all that is being done,” the Attorney General told the court.
According to reports, the family of the murdered man is unwilling to accept blood money, which is arguably the only option to prevent the impending execution.
“There’s no way we can get to know what’s happening. We have been trying our utmost. It’s not a matter where govt can be asked to do something beyond. It’s very unfortunate,” Attorney Venkataramani said.
Nimisha Priya has been working in Yemen as a nurse since 2008. She travelled to the country with her husband Tommy Thomas after their marriage in 2011. Due to the civil war in Yemen in 2014, her husband returned to Kerala with their daughter, while Nimisha stayed in Yemen.
She later partnered with the Yemeni national to open a nursing home. According to her, the act was committed in self-defence and under duress, alleging that he physically abused her, took possession of her passport, and controlled her finances. She claimed she administered sedatives in an attempt to retrieve her passport, but he died from an overdose. She is currently being held in Sana’a Central Prison, awaiting execution on Tuesday.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to intervene immediately to save Nimisha Priya’s life. In his letter, the Chief Minister said the case warranted “sympathy” and requested the Prime Minister to take up the matter with the Yemeni authorities without delay. He also referred to earlier appeals made to the central government and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, including letters sent on February 6 and March 24, 2025.
