A Qatari court has condemned eight former Indian Navy officers who were captured in Doha in 2022 to death.
Overseeing the integration of Italian U212 stealth submarines into the Qatari Emiri Naval Force, the men—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 employed in their individual capacities by a private company, Dahra Global.
According to official sources in India, the Qatari authorities have not disclosed the grounds behind their detention. The public now knows very little about the case, including the alleged crime for which the men are serving death sentences.
Timeline of events
2022
August 30: Two more people and the eight males were taken into custody on unspecified allegations. They were placed into isolation.
October 1: The eight naval veterans were received by India’s Deputy Head of Mission and Ambassador in Doha.
October 3: The first consular entry was authorised. Khamis al-Ajmi, the CEO of Dahra Global, also arrived to free his officials but ended up getting imprisoned. He was placed in solitary prison for two months before being released on bond.
2023
March 1: The veterans’ final bail request was denied out of many that they had filed.
March 25: The eight men were the subject of charges.
March 29: As per Qatari law, the trial commenced.
May 30: Dahra Global ceased operations in the city of Doha. Since then, every former worker—mostly Indians—has gone back to their own homes.
August 4: When the detained men were moved from solitary confinement to a detention ward alongside their colleagues, where each cell held two guys, they experienced some measure of comfort.
October 26: All eight individuals were given the death punishment by the court.
Government sources claim that the Ministry of External Affairs has been keeping a careful eye on the issue and has given the detained sailors all of the assistance they could want. There have been several diplomatic and political discussions on the issue, and Qatar and India are still involved.
The references made clear that “just like GOI cannot release a foreigner under trial in India, other countries also have their own judicial processes”.
India has continued to take the same position as it did in the Enrica Lexie-Italian Marines case, when two Indian fishermen were slain off the coast of Kerala, purportedly by two Italian marines on board the oil tanker MB Enrica Lexie, which was flying the Italian flag.
The families of the former Navy men have submitted a Mercy Plea to the Emir of Qatar, who is known to issue pardons during Ramadan and Eid, in addition to the GoI’s efforts.
