The Indian government is extending help to Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya who is on death row in Yemen, the Ministry for External Affairs said on Tuesday.

New Delhi is aware of the sentencing of Priya in Yemen, ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“We understand that the family of Ms Priya is exploring relevant options,” he added. “The government is extending all possible help in the matter.”

Priya, from Kerala’s Palakkad, was imprisoned in Yemen for the alleged murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi in July 2017.

In 2020, she was sentenced to death by a trial court in the capital Sanaa. Her appeal was rejected by the Yemeni Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. However, it kept open the option of paying blood money, or the amount paid in compensation to the family of a person who has been killed.

On Monday, Rashad al-Alimi, the chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, approved the death penalty given to Priya. The sentence is likely to be executed in a month’s time, The Week reported.

Priya’s mother has been negotiating with Mehdi’s family to secure a waiver of the death sentence.

Priya went to Yemen in 2008 to help her parents, who were daily-wage labourers, The Hindu reported. She worked at hospitals in Yemen before starting her clinic in 2015.

Differences came up between Priya and Mehdi, her business partner, after she questioned him about the alleged embezzlement of funds, The Hindu reported quoting her family.

Priya’s mother alleged in a plea that Mehdi tortured the nurse under the influence of drugs for years and held her at gunpoint several times, The Indian Express reported. It was also alleged that Mehdi confiscated Priya’s passport so that she could not leave the country.

Mehdi died from an overdose of sedatives Priya allegedly injected him with during an attempt to get back her passport.