Qatar Court Admits India’s Appeal to Save 8 Ex-navy Officers

New Delhi: In a ray of hope, Qatar’s Court of Appeal has accepted for hearing and decided to examine the legal appeal filed against the verdict delivered last month by a Qatari Court of First Instance sentencing eight former Indian naval personnel to death, sources have confirmed. The decision to examine the appeal filed by the eight Indian nationals was taken at a hearing earlier on Thursday and the next date of hearing will be decided in due course. India had last week said it “hopes for a positive outcome” on its legal appeal and had added that the appeals process was “underway”.

New Delhi had also reiterated that the judgment in the case has been made confidential “from the Qatari side” and had earlier said the judgment has been shared with the legal team representing the eight Indians. India had last month reacted with “deep shock” at the verdict delivered on October 26 and had said it attaches high importance to the case, is in touch with family members of the eight Indians, exploring all legal options, and will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said earlier that an appeal was filed after the Court of First Instance of Qatar passed an order on October 26 in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company and had “urged everyone not to engage in speculation considering the sensitive nature of the case”. India is already in touch with the tiny oil-rich Gulf nation at various levels following the death penalty announced last month on the eight Indians, reportedly on espionage charges.

The charges on which the eight Indians have been given the death sentence have still not been spelt out officially by Qatar and New Delhi too has not stated these in public while only saying earlier that the charges levelled by Qatar against the eight Indians were first presented as part of the hearings.

But according to media reports in the past several months, the eight Indians had been accused by the Gulf nation of spying for Israel on a secret Qatari programme related to stealth submarines. The eight Indians were reportedly employees of an Oman-based company Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, a company advising on a Qatari programme aimed at obtaining high-tech Italian-made submarines that could evade radar detection and providing training for Qatar’s Navy. They were all reportedly picked up from their residences in Qatar in August last year for questioning and subsequently detained.  

The eight former Indian Navy personnel in Qatari custody were earlier identified as (former naval personnel) Navtej Singh Gill, Birendra Kumar Verma, Saurabh Vashisht, Amit Nagpal, Purnendu Tiwari, Sugunakar Pakala, Sanjeev Gupta and Ragesh. Most of them were of officer rank of captain or commander.