India, July 15 -- Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya's execution in Yemen, scheduled for July 16, was halted on Tuesday. Priya (37), hails from Kerala's Palakkad district. She is currently lodged in a jail in Yemen's capital Sana'a, was handed the death sentence after being convicted of murdering a Yemeni national in 2017.

A court handed her the death penalty in 2010, a verdict which was upheld by the Houthis' Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.

The Indian government has since then been in regular contact with Yemeni authorities and members of Priya's family. They have focused on the Islamic tradition of "diyat" or payment of "blood money" to the victim's family.

She had moved to Yemen in 2011 to work as a nurse in Sana'a. Her family - ...