Nurse Nimisha Priya Execution: Supreme Court to hear plea for Diplomatic Intervention

A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court of India by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, urging the Union Government to intervene diplomatically and facilitate negotiations to save Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who is facing execution in Yemen on July 16, 2025.

It was mentioned before a bench of  Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi today and they have listed it for hearing shortly.

Nimisha Priya, a trained nurse from Kerala, has been sentenced to death in Yemen for the 2017 death of Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national. The incident arose after Priya allegedly administered sedatives in a desperate attempt to retrieve her seized passport following years of alleged physical abuse, financial exploitation, and confinement. The attempt went fatally wrong when Mahdi, reportedly a substance abuser died of a drug overdose.

The petition highlights how Nimisha was denied a fair trial, coerced into signing confessional documents in Arabic, and left without meaningful legal representation amid Yemen’s ongoing civil war. Her appeals have since been dismissed by Yemen’s higher courts.

The only legal remedy now available under Sharia law is to obtain a pardon from the victim’s family by paying “blood money” (Diyah). However, due to India’s travel ban to Yemen and lack of official diplomatic outreach, no negotiations have taken place.

The petitioner organization, a global collective of NRIs, parliamentarians, lawyers, and rights activists has committed to raising the required compensation without seeking government funds. The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, calls the Government’s inaction a violation of Priya’s fundamental right to life under Article 21.

Nimisha’s 12-year-old daughter currently lives in a convent in Kerala, while her mother works as a domestic help and her husband as an auto driver. The Council has urged the top court to direct the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Embassy in Riyadh to urgently facilitate talks with the victim’s family and avert a humanitarian tragedy.

Case Title: SAVE NIMISHA PRIYA

INTERNATIONAL ACTION COUNCIL Vs UNION OF INDIA & ANR.