Qatar Court Reduces Death Sentence of 8 Former Indian Navy Personnel  

New Delhi: A Qatar court has commuted the death sentences awarded to eight former Indian Navy personnel in connection with an alleged espionage case, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the Indian government on Thursday.

In a statement, the MEA said, the Court of Appeal of Qatar reduced the death sentences in the Dahra Global case, adding that a detailed judgement in the matter is awaited.

“We have noted the verdict today of the Court of Appeal of Qatar in the Dahra Global case, in which the sentences have been reduced. The detailed judgement is awaited,” MEA said in an official statement.

“Our Ambassador to Qatar and other officials were present at the Court of Appeal today, along with family members. We have stood by them since the beginning of the matter, and we will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also continue to take up the matter with the Qatari authorities,” it added.

These former Indian Navy personnel, who worked with a private company, Al Dahra, were arrested in August 2022 in an alleged case of espionage. They were awarded death sentences by Qatar’s Court of First Instance on October 26.

Commuting of the death sentence comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Qatari ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on the side-lines of CoP28 summit in Dubai.

Details of the conversation were never made public, but there was speculation this issue was raised.