The government on Thursday said its legal team was working on the appeal to be filed in the case of eight former Indian Navy personnel, whose death sentence has been commuted by an appellate Court in Qatar.
”I can confirm that the death penalty of the eight Indians has been commuted. They have been given varying sentences. Our legal team has the court verdict…it’s a confidential document. Sixty days’ time has been given to appeal in the highest court of Qatar,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing.
He said the legal team was working on the matter. The government was in touch with the legal team as well as the families of the eight Indians.
The Appellate Court in Qatar had on 20 commuted the death sentence of the eight Indians, who were arrested in August 2022 in an alleged case of espionage. They were handed the death sentence by a court in Qatar in October. India had termed the ruling “deeply shocking”, and an appeal was filed in the case in November.
The eight 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.
India has been relentlessly pursuing the case with the Qatari authorities. The Qatari authorities have provided at least three consular access to the eight Indians.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit in Dubai in December.