NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs said the government will do everything possible for the release of Nimisha Priya, serving death sentence in Yemen prison. Yemen President Rashad Muhammed Al Alimi had approved her death sentence the other day.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal clarified that Yemen's action in confirming the death sentence is only procedural and that all possible support will be provided to the family's efforts to release Nimisha Priya.

With the President's approval, the execution is likely to take place within a month. Attempts to free her through pardon and clemency had failed earlier. Nimisha Priya of Chittilancherry in Palakkad, has been in prison in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2017.

The trial court sentenced Nimisha Priya to death in the murder case of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi. The only way to save Nimisha Priya was to give mercy to Talal's family. Nimisha Priya's mother Prema Kumari had gone to Yemen to meet Talal's family in person and apologize. Negotiations were held with Talal's family and the heads of the tribe. However, these negotiations failed. Prema Kumari is still in Yemen.

Nimisha Priya is the wife of Tommy Thomas of Thodupuzha. Nimisha Priya claimed that Talal Abdo Mahdi, who came to her while working as a nurse and promised to help her start her own clinic, had taken her passport and brutally harassed her. She injected him with sedatives to get her passport that was in his hands.