[Image for representation]
New Delhi: The Indian government Thursday October 26, 2023 said it is exploring all legal options after Qatar handed over death penalty to eight former Indian Navy personnel who were arrested in an alleged case of espionage last year.
"We are deeply shocked by the verdict of the 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," the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The government further said that it would continue to extend all consular and legal assistance to the Indians.
The Indian Navy veterans, all employees of Doha-based Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, were taken into custody in August 2022. They are Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht and Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar.
Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services is a private entity which provided training and other services for Qatar's armed forces.
The charges against them were not made public by Qatari authorities. But sources said the Indians had been working in their private capacity with Dahra Global to oversee the induction of Italian small stealth submarines U2I2.
The owner of Dahra Global Khamis al-Ajmi - a retired squadron leader of the Royal Oman Air Force, too was arrested along with the Indian nationals. He was however released in November 2022.
Dahra Global later closed its operations in Doha and all those working there – majority of them Indians, returned home.
Commenting on the verdict, the Congress asked the Narendra Modi government to use all available diplomatic and political leverage with the Qatar government to ensure that the Indians have full recourse to appeals and do everything in hand to get them released.
"The Indian National Congress has noted with the greatest anguish, distress and shock the most disturbing developments in Qatar regarding 8 former officers of the Indian Navy", Congress General Secretary, Communications, Jairam Ramesh said, in a post shared on social media site X.
"It (the Congress) hopes and expects that the Govt of India will use its diplomatic and political leverage with the Qatar government to the maximum to ensure that the officers have full recourse to appeals and also do the utmost to get them released at the earliest," he added.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
