The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 10, 2025) agreed to hear on July 14 (Monday) an organisation fighting to save the life of a Malayali nurse, Nimisha Priya, whose execution has been tentatively fixed for July 16 by the Republic of Yemen for the murder of a local man there.

A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi meanwhile asked ‘Nimisha Priya — International Action Council’, the organisation represented by senior advocate Raghenth Basant and advocate Subhash Chandran KR, to immediately serve an advance copy of their plea to the office of the Attorney General of India to facilitate any diplomatic efforts, if possible, to protect her from the gallows.

The court directed the government to apprise it of what action was or could be taken to assist the nurse.

“The execution is reportedly scheduled for July 16… If the government can do some intervention, any negotiations to save her,” Mr. Basant pleaded.

The senior counsel said the option to pay ‘blood money (diyah)’ to the murdered man’s family and be pardoned for the crime was still open. However, there has been no effective negotiations with the family owing to the civil war in Yemen and travel bans.

“It is pertinent to mention that strong and timely diplomatic interventions of Indian authorities can only save the life of Ms. Nimisha Priya and therefore, facilitations for effective negotiations are highly warranted,” the Council’s petition said.

Ms. Nimisha Priya is an Indian citizen and trained nurse who worked in private hospitals at Sa’ana in Yemen for a few years. Her husband and minor daughter had returned to India in 2014 owing to financial constraints ahead of the civil war.

The petition said that in 2015, Ms. Nimisha Priya had partnered with a local, Talal Abdo Mahdi, to set up her own clinic in Sanaa as only Yemeni nationals were allowed to set up clinics and business firms.

After she started the clinic, Mr. Mahadi started cornering all the revenue. He became hostile when Ms. Nimisha Priya questioned him. He had later threatened her, forged documents to claim that she was married to him as per his religion and brutally tortured her, the plea narrated..

Unable to cope with the torture, it said, Ms. Nimisha Priya had complained to the police in Sanaa. But instead of acting against Mr. Mahdi, the police arrested Ms. Nimisha Priya and put her in jail for six days. On her return from jail, the severity of the torture increased manifold.

In July 2017, Ms. Nimisha Priya took the help of a warden of a jail located near her clinic, who suggested that she should try to sedate him and then convince him to give her passport back. However, her attempt to sedate Mr. Mahdi boomeranged and he died of an overdose in July 2017.

Ms. Nimisha Priya was sentenced to death in Yemen by a trial court in 2020. Her appeals were dismissed by the appellate courts of that country.

“Her only child, a 12-year-old girl, is living in a convent. Her mother is a domestic helper in Ernakulam and her husband is an autorickshaw driver,” the petition said.