The execution of Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse on death row in Yemen, has been postponed by Yemeni authorities, sources said on Tuesday.
The execution was scheduled for Wednesday.
Priya, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala's Palakkad district, has been found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July, 2017.
It has been learnt that the local authorities in Yemen have postponed the execution scheduled for July 16, the sources said.
In 2020, a Yemeni court handed her the death sentence and the country's Supreme Judicial Council dismissed her appeal in November 2023.
The 38-year-old nurse is presently lodged in a jail in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
The delay in execution comes as talks are ongoing in Dhamar between representatives of Sufi leader Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz and Mahdi’s family. The meeting was arranged through the intervention of prominent Indian Sunni leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, also known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad.
The family’s willingness to engage in talks is seen as a significant development, as no prior communication had been possible. Sources said that efforts are now focused on negotiating the acceptance of blood money.
The sources said the government of India has been rendering all possible assistance in the case since beginning.
Despite the sensitivities involved, Indian officials have been in regular touch with the local jail authorities and the prosecutor's office, leading to securing the postponement, the sources said.
Priya's mother Premakumari travelled to Yemen last year as part of efforts to secure her release.
The Indian side had even explored the option of securing Priya's release through "diyat" or paying "blood money". But that also ran into some problems, it is learnt.
The government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it was doing whatever was "utmost possible" to save the Indian nurse from execution.
It also informed the top court that "nothing much" could be done keeping in view the status of Yemen.
"There is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that point," attorney general R Venkataramani informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
The top law officer said the government was keen to save its citizens and was doing "utmost possible" in the matter.
Venkataramani said, “The Government of India is trying its best and has also engaged with some sheikhs who are very influential people there.”
