India is offering all possible help to the family of Nimisha Priya
- Nimisha Priya's execution was postponed at the last minute by Yemeni authorities
- India has provided legal aid, consular visits, and is in contact with Yemeni authorities and family
- Nimisha Priya was sentenced to death in 2020 and her appeal was dismissed in November 2023
India is offering all possible help to the family of Nimisha Priya as she remains on the death row in Yemen for killing her business partner, a Yemeni citizen.
The nurse from Kerala's Palakkad district was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. The local authorities at the last minute postponed the execution.
"This is a sensitive matter and the government of India has been offering all possible assistance in the case. We have provided legal assistance and appointed a lawyer to assist the family. We have also arranged regular consular visits and been in constant touch with the local authorities and the family members to resolve the issue," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a press briefing today.
"This included concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for the family of Nimisha Priya to reach a mutually agreeable solution with the other party. The local authorities in Yemen have postponed carrying out her sentence... We continue to closely follow the matter and render all possible assistance. We are also in touch with some friendly governments," Mr Jaiswal 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 currently in a jail in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
India doesn't have any diplomatic presence in Yemen and diplomats in the Indian mission in Saudi Arabia were looking into the matter. Nimisha 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 her release through "diyat" or paying "blood money". But that also ran into some problems.
The government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it was doing whatever was "utmost possible" to save the Indian nurse from execution.
The government also said "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 told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
