A Qatar court has sentenced eight former Indian Navy personnel to death on Thursday. These individuals, who work for the Al Dahra Company, were arrested last year under allegations of espionage. The specific charges made by Qatari authorities against these Indian citizens have not been disclosed to the public. India expressed profound shock at the court’s decision and is exploring all available legal avenues in response.
The MEA said it is “deeply shocked” by the verdict and now awaits the detailed judgement. “We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving 8 Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” the MEA said in an official press release.
What is the case and who are the men?
The eight Navy veterans have been identified as Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Rajesh.
The men were working for a defence service provider organisation – Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services – owned by a retired member of the Royal Omani Air Force. The firm’s owner was also arrested along with the men but was released in November last year.
“Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture,” it added. The eight Indian nationals have been imprisoned in Qatar since October 2022 and were accused of allegedly spying on a submarine programme.
New Delhi had been granted consular access to the eight Indians and had been working to secure their release. The Indian nationals had their first trial in late March.
Meetu Bhargava, who is the sister of one of the officers detained and lives in Gwalior, sought help from the Indian government to bring her brother back.
It’s worth noting that Pakistan has similarly detained former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav on what India believes are false charges of espionage, and this case is currently being heard in an international court.
What has the Indian government said?
“Verdict in the case of 8 Indians detained in Qatar: We are deeply shocked by the verdict of the death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated on Thursday. and we are investigating every legal avenue.
They were taken into custody by the State Security Bureau of Qatar, and the Indian Embassy was informed of their arrests in mid-September. The guys were permitted to have a brief conversation with their relatives on September 30.
October of last year saw the granting of the first consular access.
Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, recently stated that India was closely monitoring the proceedings at the “court of first instance”.
Speaking about the charges, he said in mid-October, “Yes, the charges were presented as part of the hearings, but I wouldn’t like to get into the legal part of it…They have legal representation in court…we are now looking forward to what the court judgement is and we hope that they are able to return back to India.”
Also Read: Lok Sabha Ethics Committee calls TMC MP Mahua Moitra on October 31 in Cash-for-query row