Qatar accepts India’s appeal against death sentence to former Navy officers: Report

November 24, 2023 1:09 pm

A Qatar court has accepted the appeal filed by the Indian government against the death sentence awarded to eight former Indian Navy personnel last month, according to media reports. The court said the next hearing is expected soon.

The eight former Indian Navy personnel were on October 26 given death sentence by Qatar’s Court of First Instance. India described the ruling as “deeply” shocking and vowed to explore all legal options in the case.

An appeal was filed against the death sentence handed down to eight former Indian Navy personnel by a Qatari court, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said earlier this month.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian embassy in Doha received another consular access to the detained Indians and that New Delhi will continue to extend all legal and consular support to them.

“As we have informed earlier, the Court of First Instance of Qatar passed a judgment on October 26 in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” Bagchi said.

“The judgment is confidential and has only been shared with the legal team. They are now pursuing further legal steps, and an appeal has been filed. We will also remain engaged with the Qatari authorities on this matter,” he said.

Last August, the Indian nationals, who worked with the private company Al Dahra, were arrested reportedly in an alleged case of espionage. Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the charges against the Indian nationals public.

The charges were filed against the eight Indian Navy veterans on March 25 and they were tried under Qatari law.

All of the former Navy officers had “unblemished stints” of up to 20 years in the Indian Navy and had held important positions including that of instructors in the force, former military officials had said. In May Al-Dhara Global closed its operations in Doha and all those working there (primarily Indians) have since returned home.

In the past, the Navy had taken up the case of former naval personnel with top brass of the government to secure their release.