Eight Indian Navy veterans sentenced to death in Qatar, ‘shocked’ India to explore all legal options
'We attach high importance to this case and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance'
On Thursday, a Qatari court condemned seven former Indian Navy officers and one retired sailor to death on unspecified crimes. The eight had been detained for more than a year.
When the decision was first announced, the foreign affairs ministry expressed "shock" and said that all available legal alternatives would be investigated.
The MEA, which is awaiting the full ruling, states that the death sentence was imposed by the Court of First Instance of Qatar. "We are profoundly stunned by the death penalty decision. The ministry said, "We are investigating all legal alternatives and are in contact with the family members and the legal team.
This matter is very important to us, and we have been keeping a close eye on it. We will keep providing all legal and consular support. We'll discuss the ruling with the authorities in Qatar as well.
"It would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case," the ministry said.
The nature of the crime the eight are accused of committing, which resulted in their detention more than a year ago, has not been formally revealed by either India or Qatar. Doha has disregarded New Delhi's attempts to use their strong bilateral ties to get the eight people's release.
Although there has never been an official confirmation, media sources have claimed that the eight former military officers were detained for spying on Qatar's submarine development for Israel.
Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal, Sailor Ragesh, Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, and Commander Purenendu Tiwari are the eight veterans.
All eight of them were employed by Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, a defense services provider controlled by an ex-air force officer from Oman. The business offered security services and the military forces of Qatar training among other things.
The eight were not granted access to consulates for the first several weeks after their detention in August 2022.
Their family were later permitted to see them, but the mystery surrounding their imprisonment never really went away.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed
