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New Delhi: A Qatari court on Thursday accepted the appeal filed by the Indian government in connection with the death verdict given to eight former Indian Navy personnel by a court last month. The MEA spokesperson said, “The judgment is confidential. There is a court of first instance that gave the judgment, which was shared with our legal team. Considering all legal options, an appeal has been filed. We are in touch with the Qatari authorities.”
According to the sources the Qatari court will set a hearing date after examining the appeal. According to reports, the eight men were arrested in August 2022 by Qatar’s intelligence agency for spying. But the Qatari authorities haven’t made the charges against them public yet.
Their bail petitions were rejected several times and the verdict against them was pronounced last month by the Court of First Instance in Qatar. In October, a court in Qatar sentenced as many as eight former Indian Navy personnel to death after they were detained in the country for over a year.
Arindam Bagchi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said India is engaged with the Qatari authorities on the matter and that the government will continue to extend all legal and consular assistance to the former Navy personnel. In August 2022, Qatar detained these eight former Indian Navy officers on suspicions of espionage for Israel while they were employed by a Qatari company
The former officers said,” 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 were arrested by Qatar intelligence agency from Doha on August 30, 2022.” Despite multiple attempts, the bail pleas of these Navy veterans were repeatedly denied by Qatari authorities. The Court of First Instance in Qatar declared the death penalty in October.
