New Delhi, July 15 -- The Union government on Monday expressed its inability to intervene immediately to stop the impending execution of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who is scheduled to be hanged in Yemen on July 16 for the alleged murder of a Yemeni national in 2017. Submitting before the Supreme Court, attorney general R Venkataramani said that every possible diplomatic and private channel has been exhausted to seek a reprieve for the 38-year-old nurse from Palakkad, "nothing has worked so far," and the situation may now lie beyond the Indian government's control. "There is a point till which the Government of India can go. We have reached that," said the AG, appearing before a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. The court is hearing a plea filed by Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, a citizens' group seeking urgent government intervention. The court has now posted the matter for July 18 to take stock of any further developments. During the hearing, the AG told the court that India chose not to go public about its efforts to avoid worsening the situation, and that it had even reached out to an influential sheikh in Yemen to persuade authorities to put the execution on hold. "But it has not worked out. Nothing matters to the Yemeni government. We got an informal communication that execution would be put in abeyance, but we don't know if it will work out," he added. "There's nothing more the government can do. We are trying at the private level... but this may even prove counterproductive. These are highly confidential matters," the AG said. He was also being briefed in real-time by a joint secretary from the ministry of external affairs present in court, informed the bench that a last-ditch request for the suspension of the execution was sent at 10:30 am on Monday, but there was no official response yet. Under Shariat law, a person sentenced to death may be pardoned by the victim's family if blood money - a form of financial compensation -- is accepted. The petitioner organisation told the court that Nimisha Priya's supporters and family were in touch with the victim's kin and have arranged a sizeable amount of blood money in an effort to secure a pardon. "They say it's a question of honour and don't accept (it). We don't know if it changes with more money. But as of now, standstill," he said. The court, acknowledging the sensitive nature of the case, expressed concern but maintained that its hands are tied. Nimisha Priya, 38, a nurse from Palakkad, Kerala, was convicted for the murder of her business associate Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni and sentenced to death by a trial court in 2020....