Congress seeks PM’s help for Kerala nurse

New Delhi

Congress leader K.C. Venugopal has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene urgently and save Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala, who is facing execution in Yemen on July 16. In a post on X, Venugopal described her as a victim of severe domestic abuse and called her death sentence a “grave travesty of justice.” “Nimisha is a victim of unimaginable cruelty and abuse on foreign soil, driven to the brink,” he wrote. “I’ve written to the Prime Minister seeking his urgent intervention to prevent her execution.”

Priya, a native of Kollengode in Palakkad district, was convicted in 2020 for the murder of her Yemeni business partner in July 2017. Her appeal was rejected by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council last November, and the public prosecutor has since ordered that her sentence be carried out. In his letter, Venugopal noted that while Priya’s family and the Action Council have attempted to negotiate “blood money” (diyah) with the victim’s family, these efforts have been hindered by Yemen’s ongoing civil war and political instability.

He urged the Prime Minister to treat the matter with “utmost priority” and initiate diplomatic outreach to the Yemeni authorities to secure a stay on her execution. Support for Priya has surged in Kerala, with CPI MP P. Sandosh Kumar also appealing to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to explore every possible diplomatic and humanitarian channel. Priya is currently imprisoned in Sana’a Central Prison, and her fate now hinges on rapid diplomatic intervention.