Execution of Indian nurse in Yemen: Government doing whatever possible, Centre to SC

New Delhi: The Government of India is doing whatever is "utmost possible" in the matter pertaining to an Indian nurse who is facing execution for murder in Yemen on July 16, the Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court.

Attorney General R Venkataramani told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that having regard to the sensitivity and status of Yemen as a place, there is nothing much the Government of India can do.

"There is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that point," the top law officer said.

With Priya likely to be executed on July 16 in Yemen, there have been calls by her family and various political parties and organisations to the Indian government to make diplomatic efforts to save her.

According to Yemeni court documents, Nimisha Priya in July 2017 allegedly drugged and murdered her local business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi and, with the help of another nurse, chopped his body and disposed of the dismembered parts in an underground tank.

After Mehdi's murder was discovered, Nimisha was arrested and allegedly confessed to the killing in one of her statements, the sources said, adding that the trial court in Sanaa sentenced her to death.

She challenged this verdict in the highest court in Yemen, but her appeal was rejected and the death sentence upheld.

Nimisha then appealed for mercy to the President of Yemen, but he refused to grant her a pardon, the sources noted.

A source said, "The family of the deceased, Talal Abdo Mehdi, is not even willing to accept blood money. All legal efforts have been made for Nimisha Priya, but the allegations against her were so grave that all efforts have failed." Different political parties and organisations, especially from her home state Kerala, have been demanding that the Indian government intervene in the matter to save Nimisha Priya from the death penalty.

The Ministry of External Affairs has said it is closely monitoring the developments in the case and is extending all possible help.

Nimisha Priya was working in Yemen as a nurse since 2008, the sources said, adding that she travelled to the country with her husband Tommy Thomas after their marriage in 2011.

Due to the civil war in Yemen in 2014, her husband returned to Kerala with their daughter, while Nimisha stayed in Yemen.