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‘No outsiders’: Only Nimisha Priya’s family should handle talks, Centre tells SC on her execution
Grand Mufti Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliyar said he had reached out to scholars in Yemen, urging them to consider the release of 38-year-old Nimisha Priya.
The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that efforts to secure a pardon for Nimisha Priya, the Indian nurse on death row in Yemen, should be undertaken solely by her family, saying the involvement of external organisations is unlikely to yield results.
The nurse, a native of Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, was found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July 2017. In 2020, a Yemeni court sentenced her to death, and her appeal was subsequently rejected by the country's Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.
Attorney general R Venkataramani advised that only Nimisha Priya’s family, which has already appointed a “power of attorney,” should handle talks with the victim’s kin, and no outsider should be involved, even with good intentions.
“I would personally advise… Her family has engaged a power of attorney. Family is the only, I think, entity which should be concerned with that. We are not talking about any outsider getting involved in it. Even with the best of intentions,” Venkataramani told the Supreme Court, as quoted by The Indian Express.
This comes after Grand Mufti of India Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliyar said he had reached out to scholars in Yemen, urging them to consider the release of 38-year-old Nimisha Priya.
He claimed that following his intervention, news emerged that the execution had been postponed.
“In Islam, instead of killing, there is also a practice of giving Diya (compensation). I requested them to accept Diyaat as the party is ready here for it. There are talks going on about whether my request has to be accepted. The date of execution was tomorrow, but it has now been postponed for some days,” the Grand Mufti had told news agency ANI.
On Thursday, ministry of external Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal declined to comment when asked about the involvement of the Sunni cleric from Kerala.
“As far as the role of the entity you mentioned is concerned, I have no information to share,” Jaiswal said.
The execution of the 38-year-old Indian national, initially scheduled for July 16, was postponed after intervention by Indian officials. She is currently being held in a prison in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces.
