Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya wait in limbo in Yemen as Central Government reaffirms to the Supreme Court all options have been exhausted.

The Central government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it has exhausted all possible options to save Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been sentenced to death in Yemen for the murder of a Yemeni national.

During the hearing of a plea seeking directions to use diplomatic channels to save Priya from execution (Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council v. Union of India), Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani told a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the government has explored all methods, including negotiations, but nothing has worked so far. The AG have submitted, “Negotiating link has also been done. There is a point to which Government of India can go. We have reached it. We also told the public prosecutor if the execution could be suspended. But it has not worked out. Nothing matters to the Yemen government. We did not go much public about it. We also got involved with a sheikh influential there, it did not work out. We got an informal communication that execution would be put in abeyance, but we don’t know if it will work out. This is not an area where the government can be asked to do something beyond a defined limit“.

Justice Mehta observed that the petitioner claims blood money has been arranged. The AG responded, “But they say it is a question of honour and they don’t accept it. We don’t know if it changes with more money. But as of now, it is at a standstill“.

The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that good Samaritans are not able to do anything since it involves Yemen. The AG replied, “Yes, nothing is happening. The problem is we can’t say ‘please do it’ and they will listen to us”.

The petitioner also submitted a willingness to pay a higher blood money amount. The AG further informed the court that the Joint Secretary, External Affairs, was also present and briefing him.

He added, “There is a communication even at 10:30 am requesting for suspension. But nothing has happened. This may even prove counterproductive. These are highly confidential matters“.

After hearing the submissions, the Supreme Court said, “We have heard the AG. List on Friday. Let parties inform us the status”.

Maverick News would like to update its readers that, Under the Islamic Sharia law, blood money, or ‘Diya’, means that the accused provides financial compensation to the family of the victim in serious crimes such as murder. It is followed in countries like Yemen who had incorporated the law in their legislation. The amount varies depending on the victim’s status (e.g., free Muslim male, non-Muslim, or slave) and the nature of the injury. For a free Muslim male, the traditional ‘Diya’ is 100 camels or its equivalent in other assets like 1000 dinars or 12,000 dirhams.

It is of omnipotent importance that, it is an alternative punishment to ‘qisas’ (equal retaliation – Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth). In Arabic, the word means both blood money and ransom. It only applies when murder is committed by mistake and secondly victim’s family has the free consent to compromise with the guilty party; otherwise qisas applies.

Snapshot of the internationally acclaimed case –

• In 2008, Nimisha Priya, a 19-year-old from Palakkad, Kerala, went to Yemen for a job. She got employed as a nurse at a government hospital in the capital, Sana’a.

• In 2011, she returned to India to get married. She married Tommy Thomas from Kochi and both moved to Yemen. Tommy found work as an electrician’s assistant, but the salary was very low.

• In 2012, Nimisha gave birth to a daughter, Mishal, but life in Yemen became financially difficult.

• In 2014, Tommy returned to Kochi with their daughter and started driving an e-rickshaw. Nimisha, meanwhile, decided to leave her low-paying job and open her clinic. However, Yemeni law required her to have a local partner. During this time, she met Talal Abdo Mahdi, a clothing shop owner whose wife had been treated by Nimisha during delivery.

• In January 2015, Nimisha visited India to meet her daughter. Mahdi also accompanied her and, during the trip, allegedly stole a photo from Nimisha’s wedding. He later used this edited photo to claim he was Nimisha’s husband.

• Nimisha raised around ₹50 lakh from family and friends to start the clinic in Yemen. Her lawyer claimed in court that in 2016, Mahdi began physically abusing Nimisha and took control of the clinic’s profits. He also confiscated her passport to prevent her from leaving the country.

• Nimisha filed a complaint against Mahdi with the police, but instead, she was detained for six days because Mahdi presented the altered photo to claim he was her husband.

• In July 2017, Nimisha attempted to retrieve her passport by sedating Mahdi. When the first injection didn’t work, she allegedly gave him an overdose, resulting in his death. She then dismembered the body and disposed of it in a water tank. Police arrested her shortly thereafter.

• In 2020, the court sentenced her to death. She appealed to Yemen’s Supreme Court for clemency, but the appeal was rejected in 2023. The case was then forwarded to President Rashad al-Alimi, who approved the death sentence on 30 December 2024. The execution was scheduled for 16 July 2025.

The family of Talal Abdo Mehdi – the Yemeni man whom Nimisha Priya have killed, has been offered $1 million (Rs 8.6 crore) as ‘blood money’ or financial compensation. Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya is to be executed in Yemen on July 16.

Team Maverick