India got another consular access to the eight former Indian Navy personnel whose death sentences were commuted recently by a Court of Appeal in Qatar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on Thursday.
At a media briefing here, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Indian legal team was considering an appeal to be filed in the Court of Cessation, the highest court of appeal in Qatar, in the case of these Navy veterans.”
He said the court of appeal had given its verdict on December 28 and there was still time to file the appeal. “Our ambassador, along with our embassy officials, met the eight detained. As we had conveyed to you last time, the legal team is looking into the appeal aspect. There is a period of 60 days within which they have to file this appeal. Now, the matter is to go to the court of Cessation. The matter is being looked into by the legal team…we still have some time,” the spokesperson added.
The eight Indians have been in jail since August 2022 on alleged charges of espionage. The case came into prominence because of strict secrecy that both Qatar and India have maintained regarding the proceedings that took place over the past several months.