On Monday, India announced the return of seven of the eight Indian Navy veterans who had been detained in Qatar on espionage charges for 18 months.
Statement from India
In a brief statement on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced the major diplomatic triumph. New Delhi “welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar.”
It added that “seven out of the eight of them have returned to India.”
“We appreciate the decision by the Emir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the statement concluded.
Comments from Veterans
One of the Navy veterans said on their return from Qatar, “It wouldn’t have been possible for us to stand here without the intervention of PM Modi. And it also happened due to the continuous efforts of the Government of India.”
Another who returned from Qatar said, “We waited for almost 18 months to be back in India. We are extremely grateful to the PM. It wouldn’t have been possible without his personal intervention and his equation with Qatar. We are grateful to the Government of India from the bottom of our hearts for every effort that has been made, and this day wouldn’t have been possible without those efforts.”
#WATCH | Delhi: Qatar released the eight Indian ex-Navy veterans who were in its custody; seven of them have returned to India. pic.twitter.com/yuYVx5N8zR
— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2024
Case Overview
The former naval officials were working with Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, which advised the Doha government on the acquisition of submarines. They were sentenced to death on espionage charges in October.
The officials were accused of spying for Israel on a Qatari submarine program and were kept in solitary confinement for a long period. Subsequently, India filed a formal appeal on behalf of the detainees in Qatar after they were sentenced to death. On December 28, the Qatari Court of Appeal reduced the death sentence to imprisonment.
Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal, and Sailor Ragesh are the eight officers who were in jail since August 2022.
While the pardon initially seemed unlikely, optimism rose after Indian PM Narendra Modi met the Qatari Emir on the sidelines of the COP 28 Summit in Dubai on 2 December and discussed the “well-being of the Indian community” living in Qatar.