Relief for 8 Indian Navy veterans; Qatar court commutes death sentence in Dahra Global case

New Delhi: The Court of Appeals in Qatar has spared the lives of the eight former Indian Navy officers who were on death row since October 26 when a lower court in the West Asian nation had awarded them capital punishment for allegedly spying for Israel.

The details of the judgment of the Courts of Appeals in Qatar are still being studied by the lawyers of the incarcerated former Indian Navy officers but the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi confirmed on Thursday that the sentences awarded to them by the lower court had been reduced.

The Government of India is in close touch with the legal team as well as the family members to decide “on the next steps”, the MEA stated in a press release issued in New Delhi shortly after the Court of Appeal in Doha passed the judgement on Thursday.

New Delhi will also continue to take up the matter with the Government of Qatar through diplomatic channels, added the MEA spokesperson.

A source in New Delhi said that the eight incarcerated citizens of India had the option of knocking on the doors of the Court of Cassation, the highest court of the West Asian nation, for further reduction of the prison term or reversal of the conviction and acquittal. They could also appeal for a pardon from the Emir of Qatar.

Apart from the members of the families of the incarcerated Indian Navy officers, New Delhi’s envoy to Doha, Vipul, and other officials of the Embassy of India in the capital of Qatar were present in the Court of Appeals of the Persian Gulf nation when the judgement commuting the sentences was passed on Thursday.

As the eight former Indian Navy officers are no longer on death row, New Delhi could also explore the option of invoking the bilateral treaty it inked with Doha for the transfer of sentenced persons, the source told DH.

The 2015 treaty allows a citizen of India or Qatar convicted and sentenced in Qatar or India respectively to serve the remainder of the prison sentence awarded to her or him in a jail in her or his home country.

New Delhi could place a request with Doha to allow the eight former Indian Navy officers to serve the remaining period of the sentence awarded to them in a jail in India.

The former Indian Navy officers, Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh, had been arrested from Doha by the Qatari intelligence service on August 30, 2022. They had all been employees of the Al Dahra company, which had been offering training and several other services to the security agencies as well as the defence forces of Qatar. The company had over 70 Indians, mostly former Indian Navy officials, on its staff. It had suspended its operations in Qatar last May, several months after its officials had been put in jail.

Though neither Doha nor New Delhi has ever officially made public the charges against the eight Indian Navy personnel, sources said that the Government of Qatar accused them of espionage, particularly of passing on intelligence to Israel about a project to build advanced submarines for the Qatari Emiri Navy.

The Court of First Instance of Qatar pronounced the verdict on October 26, awarding the death sentence to all the eight incarcerated citizens of India.

New Delhi had been in touch with Doha through diplomatic channels over the past several months to secure the release of the incarcerated Indians. The Embassy of India in Doha has also been providing consular and legal assistance to them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani had met in Dubai on the sideline of the COP 28 (UN climate conference) on December 2. “We had a good conversation on the potential of bilateral partnership and the well-being of the Indian community in Qatar,” Modi had posted on X after his meeting with Al-Thani. He however had not made it clear if he had raised the issue of the eight former Indian Navy officers on death row in Qatar during his meeting with the Emir of the West Asian nation.