On Thursday, October 26, a court in Qatar awarded a death sentence to eight ex-Indian Navy officers. These officers, who were arrested in Doha on August 30, 2022, have been languishing in the Qatar jail for over a year on charges of espionage and spying. The Qatar authorities accused them of spying for Israel.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has reacted strongly to the verdict saying that India is “deeply shocked.” MEA added that it would continue to extend all consular and legal assistance to secure the release of the eight former Indian Navy officers.
One of the jailed officers, Commander Purnendu Tiwari (Retd), is the managing director of the firm that was conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in 2019. The award was handed over by none other than the then-President Ram Nath Kovind.
The other detained Indians are Navtej Singh Gill, Birendra Kumar Verma, Sugunakar Pakala, Sanjeev Gupta, Amit Nagpal, Rajesh Gopakumar, and Saurav Vashisht.
Qatar’s intelligence agency had picked them up from their homes in the middle of the night on August 30. They were put in solitary confinement. For months after their arrest, the Qatar authorities never specified the charges that had been pressed against them. Only recently did they confirm that the Indian Navy personnel, who were held in solitary confinement for long spells, have been charged with the offence of spying for Israel on the country’s advanced submarines.
The Qatar State Security, the state intelligence agency, had claimed that it had intercepted electronic communications establishing that the naval officers were spying on the submarine programme. The agency had, however, not shared the information with India.
Reports that the former Indian Navy officers may have been “framed” by Pakistani intelligence agencies surfaced in April of this year. The case of Kulbhushan Yadav, a former commander of the Indian navy who was abducted from Iran and imprisoned in Pakistan on suspicion of spying, is said to have been used by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI to convince the Qatari authorities against these eight decorated ex-Indian Navy officers.
Ever since the officers were taken into custody by the Qatari authorities, the Indian embassy has been doing everything within its power to get them released. They have been helping the family members have frequent visits, and they have been offering the Navy officers legal and consular support. When discussing India’s stance on the eight former Indian Navy officers who were arrested, MEA spokesperson Bagchi emphasized that the Center was doing “everything in its power to support these Indians.”
Today, following the announcement of the death penalty, India’s Ministry of External Affairs expressed shock and vowed to explore all available legal options to secure the release of its citizens.