NEW DELHI: The Union government on Monday told the Supreme Court that while it is making efforts through private channels to save Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya from execution in Yemen, there is “nothing much” it can do due to the diplomatic sensitivity of the country.
“There’s not much the Government of India can do, looking at the sensitivity of Yemen. It is not diplomatically recognised,” Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, told a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
He said the government had reached the limits of what was possible in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. “We didn’t want to complicate the situation by going public. We are trying at a private level,” the AG added.
The submissions were made in response to a plea by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council (SNPIAC), which sought immediate directions to the Centre to use diplomatic channels to intervene and stop the execution.
Venkataramani said the government had even reached out to an influential sheikh in Yemen and requested the public prosecutor to suspend the execution, but those efforts had not yielded results. “We got informal communication that the execution would be put in abeyance, but we don’t know if it will work out,” he added.
Appearing for SNPIAC, the petitioner’s counsel said: “Good samaritans are not able to help because it is Yemen. We are even willing to pay higher blood money to save her life.”
After hearing both sides, the bench posted the matter for further hearing on Friday, asking the parties to inform the court of any developments.
The petitioner has sought the court’s urgent intervention, pointing out that Priya’s execution is reportedly scheduled for July 16. SNPIAC’s counsel Subhash Chandran KR had earlier urged the court to direct the government to explore diplomatic options, including the possibility of paying blood money to the victim’s family, which is permissible under Sharia law.
Nimisha Priya, 38, hailing from Palakkad in Kerala, was convicted of murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. She was apprehended while trying to flee the country and sentenced to death in 2020. Her final appeal was rejected in 2023.
