Supreme Court to hear plea seeking intervention to save Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya

The court asked Senior Advocate Ragenth Basant, who appeared for the council, to serve a copy of the petition to the Attorney General of India. “Considering the nature and urgency of the case, we request the Union of India/Central Government to apprise this Court through the learned Attorney General of India as to the steps taken in the case by the Government of India, if any,” it further directed.

Basant pointed out that, as per reports, Priya’s execution is set for July 16 and added that the option of paying blood money to the family under Sharia law for securing a pardon is still open. He urged that the Centre intervene and conduct any negotiations to save her.

Nimisha Priya, who hails from Palakkad in Kerala, was found guilty of murdering Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. She was apprehended while trying to flee Yemen and sentenced to death in 2018.

After becoming a qualified nurse, Priya moved to Yemen in 2008. In 2011, she married Tomy Thomas in Kerala, with whom she returned to Yemen. While she worked as a nurse, he worked as an electrician. Both dreamt of starting their own clinic, but as per Yemeni law, this required them to partner with a local.

A regular at the clinic where Priya worked as a nurse, the couple approached Mahdi for help. While Priya returned to Yemen, the civil war prevented her husband and daughter from following her. In Yemen, Mahdi allegedly decided to take advantage of Priya. He opened a new clinic but allegedly refused to share his income with her and forged documents to show her as his wife. According to Priya’s family, what followed was a cycle of physical and sexual abuse.

Priya was unable to leave because Mahdi had allegedly taken all her travel documents and passports. One day, Priya, with the help of fellow nurse Hannan, allegedly tried to sedate Mahdi to obtain her papers. But an overdose led to his death, following which the duo decided to chop his body up and dump it in a water tank. Both were arrested.