Who Are The 8 Ex-Indian Navy Officers Sentenced To Death By Qatari Court?

India on Thursday said it is "deeply shocked" over a Qatari court handing the death penalty to eight Indian former officers in the Indian Navy and said it is exploring all legal options in the case.

The eight former Indian Navy personnel have been in jail since August last year. The charges against them were not made public by Qatari authorities.

Who Are 8 Indian Navy Officers sentenced to death?
As per a report in NDTV, the men include decorated officers who once commanded major Indian warships. They were working for Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, a private firm that provided training and related services to Qatar's armed forces.

One among them was working on a highly sensitive project -- Italian technology-based midget submarines with stealth characteristics, the report said citing sources.

The ex-Indian Navy officers 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.

One of the individuals in detention is Commander (retd) Purnendu Tiwari, an Indian expatriate who was honored with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in 2019.

In its reaction, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it is attaching "high importance" to this case and is exploring all legal options.

"We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company," it said.

"We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement. 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.

"We attach high importance to this case, and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities," it said in a statement.

"Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture," it added.

India's ambassador to Qatar met the men in prison on October 1 after being granted consular access.