India on Monday announced that the eight Indian Navy veterans, who were sentenced to death in Qatar, have been released.
Qatar Frees Eight Indian Navy Veterans
Three months after they were sentenced to death, seven out of the eight former Indian Navy personnel were released from Qatar’s custody and brought back to India, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
“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 MEA statement said.
The Indians had been working in their private capacity with Dahra Global to oversee the induction of Italian small stealth submarines U2I2. They have been identified as 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.
While seven sailors returned to India early Monday morning, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, whose death sentence was commuted but still received the harshest punishment of a 25-year life term, hasn’t returned yet. He, too, is expected to be back in India soon. Diplomatic front was handled by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the delicate negotiations for the release of ex-Navy personnel were conducted by NSA Doval at the advice of PM Modi. NSA Doval made a number of quiet trips to Doha with the conviction that the Qatari leadership would understand the Indian point of view.
The Indian nationals, all employees of Doha-based Dahra Global, were taken into custody in August 2022. The charges against them were not made public by Qatari authorities. According to a report in the Financial Times, they were charged with spying for Israel. This consular access to the Indian envoy and the subsequent commutation was granted after PM Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on December 1. The two leaders had discussed bilateral partnership and the “well-being of the Indian community” living in Qatar — this was seen as a euphemism for discussing the situation regarding the eight former Indian Navy personnel on death row.
