Qatar Frees 8 Navy Veterans Jailed Over Spying Charges, 7 Back In India

Qatar has released eight former Indian Navy personnel who were jailed in the Middle East country over spying charges.

Qatar has released eight former Indian Navy personnel who were jailed over spying charges.

Source : ANI

In a major diplomatic win for India, Qatar has released eight ex-Indian Navy personnel who were jailed over spying charges, the government has said. Seven of them have already returned to India after serving a sentence of 18 months.

"The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar. Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals," the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The ex-Navy personnel were on death row and the sentence was reduced after PM Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the margins of the COP28 meeting in Dubai.

They were sentenced to death on October 26, 2023 after their arrest in August 2022. The former Navy officials were working with a private firm there named Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, headquartered in Doha.

The released his being hailed as a major dilomatic triumph for India as the decision was taken after constant government intervention and after PM Modi raised the issue and urged Doha to halt the death penalty.

The charges against the ex-Navy men filed in March last year where not made public by the the Qatari authorities or New Delhi. They were being tried under the Qatari law.

After the Court of Appeal reduced the death sentence, they veterans were given 60 days to appeal against the order of their jail terms.

Al-Dhara Global closed its operations in Doha in May last year and those working with the firm, mostly Indians, have returned home.

India and Qatar haveQatar a pact signed in 2015 with provisions for the transfer of sentenced persons that allowed citizens of both countries to serve sentences in their home countries.