8 Indians awarded dying sentence in Qatar; India says ‘deeply shocked’ and exploring all authorized choices

Eight former Indian Navy personnel had been on Thursday handed down dying sentence by a court docket in Qatar, a verdict that was described as “deeply” stunning by India because it vowed to discover all authorized choices within the case.

The Indian nationals, who labored with non-public safety firm Al Dahra, had been arrested in August final yr reportedly in an alleged case of espionage. However, neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the fees towards the Indian nationals public.

In its response, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) mentioned it’s attaching “high importance” to this case and is exploring all authorized choices.

The former Indian Navy personnel are Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Ragesh, in response to individuals acquainted with the matter.

All of the previous Navy officers had “unblemished stints” of as much as 20 years within the Indian Navy and had held essential positions together with that of instructors within the pressure, they mentioned.

“We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” the MEA mentioned.

“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement. We are in touch with the family members and the legal team, and we are exploring all legal options,” it mentioned.

The MEA mentioned it’ll proceed to increase all consular and authorized help to the Indians.

“We attach high importance to this case, and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities,” it mentioned in a press release.

The MEA mentioned it might “not be appropriate to make any further comments at this juncture” because of the “confidential nature of the proceedings”.

“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.

India’s ambassador to Qatar met the boys in jail on October 1 after being granted consular entry.

They had impeccable service information and had taken voluntary retirements searching for greener pastures, one of many individuals cited above mentioned.

As a part of Al Dahra safety firm, the Indians had been imparting coaching to Qatari naval personnel for the previous few years, the individuals cited above mentioned.

The Al Dahra safety firm had some preparations with the Qatari authorities for facilitating coaching to Qatari naval personnel, they mentioned.

The firm wound up its operations after one of many arrests of the personnel. There had been stories that the highest government of Al Dahra was taken into custody however he was launched a few months later.

It is learnt that the previous Indian naval personnel had been stored in solitary confinement for a number of months earlier than they had been transferred to “two-person” cells.

“This (the Qatari court verdict) is unbelievable. I am sure, the government will leave no stone unturned to ensure release of the veterans,” mentioned former Indian Navy spokesperson Capt (retd) D Ok Sharma.

In the previous, the Navy had taken up the case of the previous naval personnel with high brass of the federal government for securing their launch.