‘There’s nothing much we can do’: Centre to SC on Kerala nurse’s execution in Yemen

All hopes of saving Indian nurse Nimisha Priya — likely to be executed in Yemen on July 16 for murdering a Yemeni national – appeared to be fading away with the Centre on Monday telling the Supreme Court that there was nothing much it could do in the matter.

“There is a point till which the Government of India can go. We have reached it. We also asked the public prosecutor if the execution could be suspended. But it has not worked out. Nothing matters to the Yemen Government… We also got involved with a sheikh influential there. It did not work out,” Attorney General R Venkataramani told a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta.

The Attorney General, however, said, “We got an informal communication that execution would be put in abeyance but we don’t know if it will work out. Not an area where the Government can be asked to do something beyond a defined limit.”

“The Joint Secretary, External Affairs Ministry, is also here. He is also briefing me. There is a communication even at 10:30 am requesting for suspension (of execution). But nothing has happened. This may even prove counterproductive. These are highly confidential (matters),” he submitted.

Asking the parties to inform it about the status of the case, the Bench adjourned the matter to July 18.

On behalf of petitioner ‘Save Nimisha Priya Action Council’, senior advocate Regenth Basant submitted that blood money to be paid to the victim’s family has been arranged and that the Government should negotiate with Yemeni authorities for her release on payment of blood money.

According to Sharia law, a person can be released if the relatives of the victim agree to accept blood money.

However, Venkataramani said the victim’s relatives have not accepted blood money on the ground that it is a question of honour.

“They say it is a question of honour and ‘we don’t accept’. We don’t know if it changes with more money. But as of now standstill,” he said.

“There’s nothing much the government can do… looking at the sensitivity of Yemen. It’s not diplomatically recognized…Blood money is a private negotiation… Yemen is not like any other part of the world. We didn’t want to complicate the situation by going public, we are trying at a private level,” the Attorney General told the Bench.

“Good Samaritans are not able to do anything since it is Yemen,” Basant said, adding, “We are willing to pay higher blood money also.”

“Yes, nothing is happening. Problem is we can’t say please do it and they will listen to us,” Venkataramani said.

The 37-year-old Indian nurse from Kerala is scheduled to be executed on July 16.

The trial court convicted her of killing Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017 by allegedly injecting him with sedatives to get her passport that the deceased had kept in his possession. The decision was upheld by the country’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.

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