Eurasia Press & News
Caught unawares by the death sentence in Qatar to eight Indian nationals, all former personnel of the Indian Navy, Delhi is faced with tough legal and diplomatic challenges as it plots a way out.
India is now looking at a range of possible legal and diplomatic options to provide relief to the eight men now on death row.
According to a report in the Financial Times, the eight Indians had been charged with spying for Israel. There was no official word on the charges from the Indian side.
Sources said since the verdict has been given by Qatar’s Court of First Instance, the Indian embassy in Doha is reaching out to top legal experts in Qatar, including a former government counsel in a top Qatar court, to appeal the sentence.
The embassy is turning to a couple of top lawyers in Doha for guidance on the death row case.
It is also looking at the charges and the basis on which the court took such a harsh view of the offence.
The legal challenge is also the opacity with which the entire trial has been conducted — and Delhi is trying to access the court documents.
The Qatari authorities, sources said, never gave an explanation on the exact reasons for the arrest of the eight men.
While an appeal in the higher court is being prepared with legal help, a mercy petition to the Emir of Qatar is also being pursued. “It will be a twin-track of appeal and mercy petition that is being considered, as of now,” a source said. The Emir is known to have issued pardons on Eid.
Delhi is also reaching out to Doha diplomatically since the two foreign ministries have a strong and robust relationship.
The two countries have strong economic ties — LNG imports from Qatar is an important feature of these ties — and the investments by Qatar Investment Authority is substantial in India’s new economy.
Major Qatari investments since 2019 include investments into Bharti Airtel’s AirtelAfrica, BYJU’s, Adani Transmission Ltd, Adani Green Energy, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (Reliance Industries, Swiggy, Dailyhunt, Allen Career Institute among others.
Sources said investments aside, there are strong political ties — there have been high-level visits in recent years, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Qatar in June 2016 and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, paying a State Visit to India in March 2015. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has visited Doha multiple times.
Defence ties with Qatar are also quite strong and defence cooperation is an important pillar of the bilateral agenda. India offers training slots in its defence institutions to a number of partner countries, including Qatar. India regularly participates in the biennial Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) in Qatar. Indian Naval and Coast Guard ships regularly visit Qatar as part of bilateral cooperation and interaction. The India-Qatar Defence Cooperation Agreement, signed during the PM’s visit to Qatar in November 2008, was further extended for a period of five years in November 2018. So, India has some defence stakes as well in the ties, and that could also come in handy to open doors in the Qatari establishment.
Sources said that Indians have a fair amount of goodwill in Qatar, with about 8 lakh Indian nationals working and living in that small yet powerful and rich country.
“They are seen as law-abiding, so we will also use the help of influential Indian community members to work the levers in the Qatar establishment,” the sources said.
Considering Qatar’s heft in international diplomacy — from hosting the Taliban’s global mission in Doha to its current role in securing the release of US hostages from the captivity of Hamas — Delhi will be working the levers with the Qatari establishment — political, economic, defence, Indian community.
Sources said the diplomatic challenge for Delhi is the timing of the verdict, which has come at a time when spying for Israel has political implications for many countries in the Arab world. And, in this polarised environment in West Asia, that poses a significant challenge for the Indian establishment.
What offers a glimmer of hope in New Delhi is the very rare use of the death penalty in Qatar. The last execution in the Gulf state was in 2020 and before that in 2003.
While the Indian embassy is pursuing all options in Doha, former Indian envoy to Doha, Deepak Mittal, who is in the Prime Minister’s Office as Joint Secretary, will be tasked with keeping a close watch on the case.
Mittal had met the detainees thrice during their detention by the authorities.
Following their arrest last year, the former Navy personnel got some relief from Qatari authorities when they were moved out of solitary confinement and put in a double-bed occupancy in a jail ward along with their colleagues.
Though caught unawares this time, sources underlined that the Indian embassy has worked the levers in the past, and is using all its diplomatic resources to ensure that the Indian nationals get the relief that they want.
In this, one of the options could be the transfer of prisoners agreement that was signed in 2015 between India and Qatar.
Sources said that India has entered into prisoner transfer treaties with many nations that allow a person convicted of a crime to be transferred to his or her home country to serve the prison sentence.
“A prisoner who wants to be transferred should notify the Indian embassy or consulate of his or her desire. The application then must be approved by the foreign country and the Government of India. For the prisoner to serve the rest of his/her sentence in India, there must not be a standing appeal against his committal to prison in the foreign country,” the sources said.
But for that, it needs to be converted from a death sentence into a life imprisonment at least. Sources said that will be the last resort, but as of now, they want to appeal the death sentence itself.
The Indian nationals, all employees of Doha-based Dahra Global, were taken into custody in August 2022.
The charges against the Indian nationals were not made public by Qatari authorities. But sources said the Indians had been working in their private capacity with Dahra Global to oversee the induction of Italian small stealth submarines U2I2.
The arrested Indian were 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 — all ex-Indian Navy, employed by Dahra Global.
In its reaction to the order Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs said it is attaching “high importance” to this case and is exploring all legal options.
“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgment. We are in touch with the family members and the legal team, and we are exploring all legal options,” it said.
The MEA said it will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance to the Indians.
“Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture,” it said.
