In a big diplomatic win to India’s Foreign Policy, Qatar has released 8 Ex-Indian Navy officers who were originally sentenced to death on charges of spying for Israel and later their death sentence was converted by Qatari court to a jail term.
According to reports, 7 of them have already returned to India and reunited with their families and loved ones.
India’s External Affairs Ministry issued a statement on Monday thanking the Emir of Qatar for releasing its nationals.
List of 8 Ex-Indian Navy personnel who were released by Qatar:
Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Ragesh.
Background of this case:
The 8 men, who were all previously serving in the Indian Navy, held high-level roles at Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, a private consultancy firm that advised the Qatari government on the purchase of advanced submarines that could evade detection by a radar.
They were arrested in August 2022 on suspicion of giving Israel access to
confidential information regarding the submarine program. They were given the death penalty by a Qatari court in October 2023. In December, the death sentences were reduced to various periods of prison time in response to an appeal submitted by Indian Government. India’s MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) played a remarkable role, first in getting the Consular access and then with proper appeal to the Qatari court, the death sentence was reduced to jail term.
Israel and India, both have not responded to the allegations of spying. Approximately 75 employees, worked at the Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, the majority of whom were Indian nationals, were let go when the Dahra firm was shut down.
Despite the controversy surrounding the incident, India and Qatar maintain cordial ties and last week sealed a $78 billion dollar agreement to guarantee Qatari LNG deliveries through 2048.
Although their conviction initially strained relations between the two nations, experts say persistent diplomatic efforts have led to the release of the jailed men.
India’s envoy to Qatar, had met them in Prison, the India’s MEA reported in December 2023.
MEA announced later that month that their death sentences had been
commuted by the Court of Appeal in Qatar.
A ministry spokesman acknowledged in January 2024 that the death penalty had been replaced with various prison terms, but they did not specify how long the punishments would be.
Various reports also suggest that Qatar was not happy with India supporting Israel’s retaliation against Hamas terror attack on October 7th that killed over 1500 Israel citizens including Kids and the elderly.
As a result, this case had gained prominence during last quarter of 2023. Now, India and Qatar relations have returned to normalcy and Modi’s government would be credited for the release of these 8 men.
Once again, it would be curious to see the reaction of India’s opposition parties and haters of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi since they had blamed and attacked Modi government for not doing enough for the release of these 8 men.
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