Death penalty to ex-Navy men | Qatar accepts India’s appeal: Reports

A Qatar court has accepted the Indian government’s appeal against the death penalty awarded to eight former Indian Navy personnel last month.

According to reports on Friday (November 24), the Qatari court will set a date for a hearing soon after examining India’s appeal.

The Indian nationals, who worked with private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August last year reportedly in an alleged case of espionage.

On October 26, they were given a 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.

Neither the Qatari authorities nor India made the charges against the Indian nationals public.

In its reaction to the ruling by the Qatari court, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) last month said it is attaching “high importance” to this case and is exploring all legal options.

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.

On November 9, MEA said that an appeal has been filed against the death sentence.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian embassy in Doha received another consular access to the detained Indians on November 7 and that New Delhi will continue to extend all legal and consular support to them.

“An appeal has already been filed in the case,” Bagchi had said at his weekly media briefing.

(With agency inputs)