Navy Chief assures efforts to repatriate ex-Navy personnel on death row in Qatar

New Delhi: Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar on Friday said the government is making extensive efforts to repatriate eight former naval personnel from Qatar, who were handed death sentences by a Qatari court.

‘We are working closely to ensure that their interests are looked after,’ Admiral Kumar said at a media briefing.

‘The government of India is putting all-out efforts to ensure they are brought back,’ he said.

The Indian nationals were on October 26 given death sentence by Qatar’s Court of First Instance. India described the ruling as ‘deeply’ shocking and vowed to explore all legal options in the case.

An appeal has already been filed against the death sentence and a higher court in Qatar has already admitted the plea.

The appeal has been filed by the legal team of the detained Indian nationals.

The Indian nationals, who worked with private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August last year reportedly in an alleged case of espionage.

Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the charges against the Indian nationals public.

In its reaction to the ruling by the Qatari court, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) last month said that it is attaching ‘high importance’ to this case and is exploring all legal options.

The charges were filed against the eight Indian navy veterans on March 25 and they were tried under Qatari law.

All of the former Navy officers had ‘unblemished stints’ of up to 20 years in the Indian Navy and had held important positions, including that of instructors in the force, former military officials had said.