Qatar court accepts former Indian Navy Men's appeal, next hearing expected soon: Report

The appeal, filed by the Indian legal team in Qatar court to challenge the death penalty awarded to eight naval veterans imprisoned in Doha, has been accepted on Thursday. The court will now study the appeal to come to a decision in the case. The next hearing is expected soon, News18 reported.

The Court of First Instance in Qatar had passed the original judgment of death penalty to the eight men, who used to work at Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services on October 26. They were arrested on August 30, 2022.

The eight arrested Indian naval veterans are 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.

Indian government sources had previously said the Qatari authorities have not provided the reasons for their arrest. Not many details of the case, including the alleged crime committed by these men, have been disclosed so far.

India had earlier described the ruling as “deeply” shocking and vowed to explore all legal options in the case. “We are deeply shocked by the verdict of the death penalty and are in touch with the family members. Our legal team is exploring all options,” Ministry of External Affairs had said after the judgment.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said an appeal has been filed in the case. Following this, MEA had also got another round of consular access to the detainees on November 7.

“The judgment is confidential. There is a court of first instance that gave the judgment, which was shared with the legal team. Considering all legal options, an appeal has been filed. We are in touch with the Qatari authorities,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on November 9.

On November 16, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had confirmed that the families of the ones arrested had formally submitted an appeal.

Case details

The first trial in the case was held in March 2023. In October, consular access was granted, and the Indian Ambassador met the detainees. But the situation turned worse on October 26 after the local court pronounced the death sentences.

The eight arrested Indian naval veterans were working at Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, a defence services provider company. The company was run by Khamis al-Ajmi, a retired squadron leader of the Royal Oman Air Force. He is an Omani national. He was also arrested along with the eight Indians, but he was released in November 2022.

The company’s old website, which has been pulled down, described it as a firm providing training, logistics and maintenance services to the Qatari Emiri Naval Force (QENF). However, the new website of Dahra Global has no mention of the connection to the QENF, nor of the seven former Navy officers who had leadership roles in the company, The Indian Express reported.

Commander Purnendu Tiwari (retd), who was Managing Director of the company, received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in 2019 for his services in furthering the bilateral relationship between India and Qatar.

In May, Al-Dhara Global closed its operations in Doha and all those working there (primarily Indians) have since returned home, as per news reports.

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