Indian nurse’s execution in Yemen stayed, SC told

The execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya — who faces the gallows for murdering a Yemeni national — has been stayed, and nothing adverse is currently happening, the Supreme Court was informed on Thursday.

Currently lodged in a jail in Yemeni capital Sana, the 38-year-old Indian nurse from Palakkad in Kerala was convicted by the trial court of killing Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017 by allegedly injecting him with sedatives to get her passport that the victim had kept in his possession. The decision was upheld by the country’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.

Attorney General R Venkataramani told a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta that a new mediator has stepped into the matter.

As the Bench sought to know what happened to her, the counsel for petitioner ‘Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council’ said her execution was stayed as of now.

“There is a new mediator who has stepped into the picture… The only good thing is nothing adverse is happening,” Venkataramani told the Bench.

At the request of the petitioner’s counsel, the Bench deferred the hearing to January 2026.

“It will be open for the parties to apply for early listing in case the situation demands,” the Bench said.

On July 18, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that the execution of Nimisha Priya had been stayed.

The top court was hearing a plea seeking direction to the Centre to use diplomatic channels to save the nurse.