New Delhi: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that all negotiations to save Nimisha Priya, a 38-year-old Indian nurse sentenced to death in Yemen, should be undertaken solely by her family, not by private organisations or external individuals.
Nimisha Priya, originally from Palakkad, Kerala, was convicted of murdering a Yemeni national in 2017. Her death sentence, pronounced in 2020, was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in 2023. Her execution was scheduled for July 16, but has been postponed.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing before the bench, stated:
“Her family has engaged a power of attorney. Family is the only entity which should be concerned with that. We are not talking about any outsider getting involved in it — even with the best of intentions.”
The comments were seen as a veiled reference to efforts by the Grand Mufti of India, Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliyar, who had earlier claimed his outreach to Yemeni scholars helped delay the execution.
“In Islam, instead of killing, there is also a practice of giving Diya (compensation). I requested them to accept Diyya as the party is ready here for it. The execution was scheduled for tomorrow, but it has now been postponed,” the Grand Mufti told ANI.
Under Sharia law, Diyya (blood money) is an alternative to Qisas (retributive justice) and can sometimes spare the convict from capital punishment if the victim’s family accepts compensation.
However, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, when asked about the cleric’s involvement, said:
“As far as the role of the entity you mentioned is concerned, I have no information to share.”
The Yemeni capital Sana’a, where Priya is imprisoned, is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi administration. Diplomatic engagement is particularly challenging as India does not have formal ties with the Houthis, but indirect interventions appear to have contributed to the temporary halt in execution.