New Delhi: The execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, on death row in Yemen, has been postponed by Yemeni authorities, sources said on Tuesday, July 15.

It has been learnt that the local authorities in Yemen have postponed the execution scheduled for July 16, sources said.

The development comes after a meeting took place between representatives of a prominent scholar and Sufi leader Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz, and the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the Yemeni national allegedly killed by Nimisha Priya.

The meeting happened at the behest of influential Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad and holds the title of Grand Mufti of India, held talks with religious authorities in Yemen.

“The meeting focused on reaching a final decision regarding the acceptance of blood money. Kanthapuram requested the Yemeni authorities to temporarily defer the execution scheduled for July 16,” a source said.

Sources said Talal’s murder is not just an emotional issue for the family, but also among the tribes and the residents of the Dhamar region.

This is why no one had been able to establish contact with the family until now. “It was only through Kanthapuram’s intervention that communication with the family became possible for the first time,” they said.

Priya, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, has been found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen in July, 2017.

In 2020, a Yemeni court handed the 38-year-old nurse the death sentence and the country’s Supreme Judicial Council dismissed her appeal in November 2023. She is presently lodged in a jail in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.

On Monday, the Central government had informed the Supreme Court that the government could do “nothing much” in the case.

Attorney General R Venkataramani had 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.”