The execution of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen has been stayed, PTI quoted the Union government as having told the Supreme Court on Thursday.

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

The court was hearing a plea by the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council, a citizen-led campaign advocating for her release, which sought directions for the Union government to take diplomatic efforts to stop the execution.

Attorney General R Venkataramani told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that a new mediator had stepped in, reported PTI.

“The only good thing is nothing adverse is happening,” said the government.

The bench listed the matter for January 2026. “It will be open for the parties to apply for early listing in case the situation so demands,” it added.

Priya’s execution was earlier scheduled for July 16.

On July 15, the Yemeni authorities postponed the execution and did not announce a fresh date. This came a day after the Union government told the Indian Supreme Court that it cannot do much more to prevent the execution of Priya.

The Save Nimisha Priya Action Council had argued that there is a provision in the Islamic Sharia law 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.

In response, the Centre had said: “Looking at the sensitivity of Yemen…it’s not diplomatically recognised…blood money is a private negotiation…There’s a point till which the government of India can go. We have reached that.”

Yemen has been locked in a civil war since 2014. New Delhi does not recognise the Houthi regime that controls the part of Yemen where Priya is jailed.

“Yemen is not like any other part of the world,” Venkataramani had told the court. “We didn’t want to complicate the situation by going public, we are trying at a private level…”

Three days later, the Union government confirmed that there was “no immediate threat” to Priya and that negotiations were on, reported PTI.

The case

In 2020, Priya was sentenced to death by a trial court in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Her appeal was rejected by the Yemeni Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. However, it kept open the option of paying “blood money”.

On December 30, news reports claimed that Rashad al-Alimi, who is the chairperson of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, had approved the death sentence handed to Priya.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs had said on December 31 that it was aware of the situation and was extending help to Priya and her family in the matter.

Priya’s mother has been negotiating with Mehdi’s family to secure a waiver of the death sentence.

Priya went to Yemen in 2008 to help her parents, who were daily wage labourers. She worked at hospitals in Yemen before starting her clinic in 2015.

Differences came up between Priya and Mehdi, her business partner, after she questioned him about the alleged embezzlement of funds, her family has claimed.

Priya’s mother alleged in a plea that Mehdi tortured her daughter under the influence of drugs for years and held her at gunpoint several times. The plea also alleged that Mehdi confiscated Priya’s passport so that she could not leave the country.

Mehdi died from an overdose of sedatives Priya allegedly injected him with during an attempt to retrieve her passport.

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