Nimisha Priya case: India appoints new mediator as Yemen stays Kerala nurse's execution

The central government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that India has appointed a new mediator to negotiate the release of Nimisha Priya, who has been jailed for murder in Yemen.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition seeking directions for the Centre to engage diplomatic channels to secure the release of Nimisha Priya. She was convicted in 2017 for the murder of Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni citizen.

When the court asked whether the mediator was KA Paul, who previously mediated the matter with Yemeni authorities, the Centre clarified that it was not him. But there is no clarification regarding who the new mediator was.

The counsel for the petitioner organisation, Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council', which supports the Kerala woman legally, said the execution has been stayed.

It suggested that the case may be adjourned, following which the court directed to list the matter in January. "It will be open for the parties to apply for early listing in case the situation so demands," it said.

Nimisha Priya, who came to Yemen in 2011, set up a clinic in Sana'a in 2015 under Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi's sponsorship. In 2014, her husband and daughter had returned to India. Talal later allegedly forged marriage documents to prove that they were husband and wife. He then allegedly took her passport, extorted money from her and abused her physically and mentally.

Nimisha, who was desperate to escape, drugged Talal to retrieve her passport but he died of overdose. She was later apprehended by Yemeni authorities from the Saudi Arabia border.

In 2020, Nimisha was given death sentence by a trial court while her appeals were dismissed by upper courts. The Supreme Judicial Council of Yemen upheld the sentence in 2023 and the Yemeni President approved the verdict last year.

India