Eight ex-Navy personnel in Qatar jail have 60 days to appeal against prison terms of 3 to 25 years, says MEA
Underlining that the matter is pending in the Qatari court, Jaiswal said he would not share the detailed judgment since it is a “sensitive” and “legal” issue
Sixty days' time has been given to file an appeal against the order at Qatar's highest court, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. Days after the appellate court in Qatar commuted the death sentences of eight former Indian Navy personnel, handing them prison terms ranging from 3 years to 25 years, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday that their legal team has been given 60 days to file an appeal in the Court of Cassation, the highest court there.
“The legal team has now got a copy of the court order, which is confidential in nature,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “Further, the legal team has got 60 days to file an appeal in the Court of Cassation, which is the highest court in Qatar. Our legal team is working on this issue, to decide the next course of action, and we are in touch with the families and the legal team,” he said.
Asked whether the 60-day period would be counted from the day of the appellate court’s order, which was December 28, Jaiswal said: “I would assume it would start from December 28 or the day after… but it’s for the legal team there (in Qatar) to look into these aspects.”
Underlining that the matter is pending in the Qatari court, Jaiswal said he would not share the detailed judgment since it is a “sensitive” and “legal” issue. He said while the death penalty has been commuted for all, the eight men have been awarded “varying prison sentences”.
Last week, The Indian Express reported that among the seven former Navy officers and one sailor who were on death row, one has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, four have been given 15 years each, two face 10 years each, and one has been sentenced to three years.
According to sources, the sailor received the most lenient sentence, while the officer who served as the Managing Director of Dahra Global was handed the harshest.
On December 28, while announcing that the appellate court in Qatar had “reduced” the death sentences, the MEA had said: “The detailed judgment is awaited. We are in close touch with the legal team as well as the family members to decide on the next steps… Our Ambassador to Qatar and other officials were present in the Court of Appeal today, along with the 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.”
The eight former Navy personnel – Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Ragesh – were working with Doha-based Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, a defence services provider company.
They were taken into custody in August 2022. The charges against them were never made public by Qatari authorities. According to a report in UK daily Financial Times, they were charged with spying for Israel.
In October last year, they were sentenced to death. India filed an appeal against the death penalty, and six hearings have been held so far – three in the court of appeal and three in the lower court.
On December 3, for the first time since the eight men were handed death sentences, the Indian Ambassador in Doha met them in prison. This came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on December 1.
Share
