Influential cleric steps in to save Indian nurse facing execution in Yemen

Kozhikode (Kerala) | Influential Sunni Muslim cleric Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar has stepped in and is making "all possible efforts" to save an Indian nurse facing execution in Yemen, as her scheduled execution draws near, informed sources said here on Monday.

They said the 94-year-old Musliyar, who is officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad and holds the title of Grand Mufti of India, has held talks with religious authorities in Yemen, who are in contact with the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the Yemeni national she allegedly killed in 2017.

Nimisha Priya, the nurse from Kerala, is facing execution on July 16 for the murder of Mahdi, her Yemeni business partner.

Sources said negotiations regarding blood money have taken place, and the details were conveyed to the concerned parties in Kerala. However, there has been no official communication regarding the status of the negotiations.

Under Shariah law, as applied in Yemen, blood money is a legally recognised financial compensation paid to the family of a person who has been killed. It is a legally sanctioned alternative to capital punishment in Islamic jurisprudence.

Meanwhile, sources said that an office has been opened at Musliyar's headquarters here to facilitate the negotiations.

Nimisha Priya, hailing from Palakkad district, was sentenced to death in 2020, and her final appeal was rejected in 2023.

She is currently imprisoned in a jail in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

Earlier in the day, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that the government could do "nothing much" in the case of the nurse facing execution on July 16.

Attorney General R Venkataramani informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the government was doing "utmost possible".

"The Government of India is trying its best," Venkataramani said, "and has also engaged with some sheikhs who are very influential people there."