Why Indian Govt ‘Can’t Do Much’ to Save Kerala Nurse Nimisha Priya from Execution in Yemen: Explained

Government of India can go till a certain point. That is reached, one of the lawyers of the Indian government informed the Supreme Court on Monday, two days before the death date of the Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who is scheduled to be executed in Yemen on July 16 in the murder case of a local business affair that occurred in 2017.

‘Reached out to a sheikh’: What govt told SC in Nimisha Priya case.

According to the Attorney General R Venkataramani, all avenues have been explored to beg pardon to the 38-year-old Palakkad-based nurse by the SC. Nothing has helped till date, and the situation has possibly gone beyond the control of the Indian government.

The SC, on a plea filed by a citizens group named Save Nimisha Priya International Action council, had asked the government to respond.

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The matter is made complicated by the fact that India has no official diplomatic ties with the rebel group known as the Houthis that controls sections of Yemen, including the capital Sanea where Nimisha Priya is a convict.

India approached a powerful sheikh in Yemen According to government lawyer, India approached an influential sheikh in Yemen to influence the Yemen authorities.

“We got an informal communication that the execution would be put in abeyance, but we don’t know if it will work out,” he added.Even at 10.30 am on Monday, a last-minute day of execution request of suspension was taken, informed the SC, but it is yet to be officially responded to.There is a saying that it is a matter of...': The reason why blood money has not worked.

By Islamic law, under Sharia law that was practiced in the Yemeni territory under Houthis control, the convict of a murder may be forgiven by the family of the victim even after conviction.

In other words, when monetary compensation, which is referred to blood money in less technical terms, is at stake and accepted.

The Save Nimisha Priya organisation informed the court that the family of Priya has been reaching out to the family of the victim and settled an amount which could be called significant.However, the family of the victim, as well as the Houthi authorities, have declined contacts.

“They say it’s a question of honour... We don’t know if it changes with more money.But as of now, standstill,” the attorney general told the SC.

‘How can we…’: What SC said on possible order

The court said: “How can we pass that order with respect to a foreign nation?Who is going to follow it?”

The SC bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta of posted the matter to July 18, but directed all the parties to keep it posted of situation developments in the meantime.

Nimisha Priya is charged with the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemen national, her business associate.Smoked as allegedly tortured by Mahdi, Priya injected him with sedatives in her bid to get her passport which he was withholding.It has led to a lethal overdose.A Sanaa trial court sentenced her to death in 2020 and it was later confirmed by the Supreme Judicial Council, the highest court of the Houthi government, three years later.

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Her mother Prema Kumari has lived in Sanaa during the last one year in search of clemency.How Yemen civil war played role in Nimisha Priya's life.

Nimisha Priya, along with many Kerala nurses each year, went to a Gulf nation Yemen in 2008 to gain a high-income package so as to support her parents who were daily wage earners.

She served a number of hospitals before she ventured into her clinic.The reason Abdi became her partner is that every business required a local partner in Yemen.He had begun hitting her when he started abusing her later, she had alleged.

In 2011 she married a fellow Malayali with whom she has a daughter.The difficulties concerning money forced the husband and the daughter to go back to India in three years.

Meanwhile, the Houthis regained control of Sanaa in the Yemen civil war and have been in control since then.When she wished her mother to travel to Yemen territory which Houthi controls at the end of last year, she had to approach the Delhi high court to seek an exemption to the ban on travelling to conflict hit country. Since then she has been able to see Priya a couple of times in prison.

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