Thiruvanthapuram: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council to seek the central government’s approval to travel to Yemen for ongoing negotiation talks.
Hearing a writ petition filed by the Council, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta asked the Council to file a representation before the Centre.
Formed in 2020, the Council consists of a group of non-resident Keralites in India and abroad, actively working to secure Nimisha’s release from a Yemeni prison and to raise funds through negotiation. Since 2017, the Indian government has banned its nationals from travelling to Yemen due to security concerns.
Representing the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, advocate Subhas Chandran K.R. said the Council has proposed a six-member team: two each representing the Action Council, Sunni cleric Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar and the central government.
“We will soon submit our representation. If the Centre rejects it, we will approach the court again,” Subhas told ThePrint.
Representing the Centre, Attorney General R. Venkataramani said the Government of India has been doing whatever it can in the case.
The case is listed for the next hearing 18 August.
Convicted of murdering her business partner and Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017, Nimisha Priya was to be executed 16 July However, a breakthrough came after Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, General Secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama and Chancellor of Jamia Markaz, initiated mediation efforts through Yemeni Sufi Islamic scholar Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz.
The execution was stayed a day before, on 15 July. However, mediation talks hit a roadblock after Mahdi’s brother refused to grant a pardon to the Malayalee nurse. Abdelfattah Mahdi, the brother of Talal, has also been issuing statements on social media against granting pardon.
Under Sharia law, a person convicted of murder in Yemen can be spared execution if all legal heirs of the victim agree to pardon, usually in exchange for diya or blood money.
“The negotiation talks are progressing there. But it will take time,” the lawyer said, adding that the efforts should involve more political leaders, as the family remains reluctant.
(Edited by Tony Rai)