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'No Immediate Threat Of Nimisha Priya's Execution In Yemen, Negotiations Going On': NGO Tells Supreme Court
Amisha Shrivastava
14 Aug 2025 4:39 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned for eight weeks the plea filed by Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council seeking directions to secure the release of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on the death row in Yemen. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta adjourned the matter after being informed that there was no immediate threat of execution and that...
The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned for eight weeks the plea filed by Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council seeking directions to secure the release of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on the death row in Yemen.
A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta adjourned the matter after being informed that there was no immediate threat of execution and that negotiations with the victim's family were ongoing.
"Negotiations are going on, as of now there is no immeditae threat. Kindly adjourn for 4 weeks, by then everything will be over. In case of any urgency we will mention the matter", the petitioner's counsel said.
The Court ultimately adjourned the matter for 8 weeks.
Background
Nimisha Priya, a 36-year-old nurse from Kerala, is facing the death penalty in Yemen for the 2017 murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi. She allegedly tried to sedate Talal with ketamine to recover her passport, which he had allegedly seized after forging documents to claim she was his wife. The sedative overdose led to his death.
She was sentenced to death in 2018, retried in 2020 with the same outcome, and lost her appeal before Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council in 2023. The Yemeni President later approved the death sentence.
Under Shariat law, a death sentence can be set aside if the victim's family pardons the convict in exchange for “blood money.” The petitioner-organisation, Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council – formed by her relatives and supporters – has been trying to secure such a pardon. Priya's family has offered 1 million US dollars (around ₹8.6 crore) as compensation.
On July 18, the Supreme Court heard the petitioner-organisation's request for permission for a small team, including a representative of Kerala Sunni Islamic leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliyar, to travel to Yemen to meet Talal's family. The organisation claimed the cleric's earlier intervention had helped secure a postponement of Priya's execution, which was originally scheduled for July 16.
Senior Advocate Ragenth Basant for the petitioner told the court that without permission from the Centre, no Indian could visit Yemen due to the travel ban.
Attorney General R Venkataramani said there was no new execution date and that the government was making efforts privately to help Priya, but warned against steps that could prove counter-productive. The Court allowed the petitioner to make a representation to the Government and posted the matter for August 14.
A day before Priya's scheduled execution on, reports came in that the execution had been postponed with the help of private interventions. The reprieve however was short-lived, as the family of the victim-Talal Abdo Mahdi, whom Priya is accused of killing, came out with a statement that they will not grant pardon to Priya.
Case no. – W.P.(C) No. 649/2025
Case Title – Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council v. Union of India and Anr.