The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said that the news about Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya’s death sentence being cancelled is not true. Some people had shared that her sentence was officially cancelled, but the MEA has rejected those claims.

"Information being shared by certain individuals on the Nimisha Priya case is inaccurate," MEA sources told India Today.

The confusion started on Monday after a statement from the office of Grand Mufti of India Kanthapuram AP. Abubakar Musliyar claimed that the death sentence of Nimisha Priya had been cancelled. The Grand Mufti’s office said that a high-level meeting had taken place in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, and it was decided that her sentence would be cancelled.

"The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, which was previously suspended, has been overturned. A high-level meeting held in Sanaa decided to completely cancel the death sentence that was temporarily suspended earlier," the statement said, quoted by ANI.

However, the Grand Mufti’s office also mentioned that they have not received any official written confirmation from the Yemeni government yet.

Nimisha's execution was initially planned for July 16, but it was delayed at the last moment just a day before the scheduled date. The postponement came after Grand Mufti Musliyar personally appealed to Yemeni authorities, requesting clemency on her behalf.

Why was Nimisha Priya sentenced to death?

Nimisha Priya, 38, is from the Palakkad district in Kerala. She moved to Yemen in 2008 to work as a nurse. Later, she started a clinic in Sanaa along with a Yemeni man named Talal Abdo Mahdi.

Reports say their relationship worsened after Mahdi started harassing her, took her passport, and falsely claimed to be her husband. Nimisha could not return to India because of this.

In 2017, Nimisha Priya reportedly tried to retrieve her passport by giving sedatives to Mahdi. However, he died due to a suspected drug overdose. She was arrested soon after and found guilty of murder in 2018. Two years later, a court in Yemen sentenced her to death.

Her case received widespread attention both in India and internationally, particularly after Yemen's President Rashad al-Alimi and Houthi leader Mahdi al-Mashat approved the execution orders in late 2024 and early 2025. However, following diplomatic efforts by the Indian government and appeals by religious leaders, the execution was temporarily halted.

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