SC to hear plea seeking Centre’s intervention to halt execution of Kerala nurse in Yemen

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Monday a plea urging the Union government to take diplomatic steps to prevent the execution of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen, PTI reported.

Her execution is reportedly scheduled for July 16.

The petitioner’s counsel, however, requested an earlier hearing, contending that if the case is taken up on Monday, just two days before the scheduled execution, it would leave little time for diplomatic efforts.

He urged the court to list the matter on Thursday or Friday, Live Law reported.

The plea, filed by the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council, a citizen-led initiative advocating for her release, was mentioned before a vacation bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that under the Islamic Sharia law, there is a provision for release if the victim’s family accepts “blood money”, or the amount paid in compensation to the family of a person who has been killed.

The petitioner urged that diplomatic efforts should be pursued in the matter.

The bench directed the counsel to provide a copy of the petition to the attorney general, PTI reported.

Priya, from Kerala’s Palakkad, was imprisoned in Yemen for the alleged murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi in July 2017.

In 2020, she was sentenced to death by a trial court in the capital Sanaa. Her appeal was...

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