Image Credits – ANI
Indian Navy veterans who were sentenced to death on charges of espionage on behalf of Israel in Qatar were released and returned to India in the early hours of Monday.
Congress expressed relief and happiness in Qatar when it released eight former Indian Navy personnel nearly three-and-a-half months after their death sentences were handed down.
Seven of them have returned to India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. It said that India appreciates the decision of the Emir of Qatar to allow the release and return of Indians home.
The navy veterans were sentenced to death by the Qatari Court of First Instance on October 26 last year on suspicion of espionage.
In a post on ‘X’, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “The Indian National Congress joins the entire nation in its relief and happiness that the eight former Indian Navy personnel earlier sentenced to death by a court in Qatar have been released and are back home.”
The Indian National Congress joins the entire nation in its relief and happiness that the eight former Indian Navy personnel earlier sentenced to death by a court in Qatar have been released and are back home. It sends its greetings and good wishes to them and their families.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) February 12, 2024
On December 28 last year, the Court of Appeal in Qatar commuted the death sentences of eight navy veterans and sentenced them to prison terms of varying lengths.
An Indian citizen working at Aldara Private Company was arrested in August 2022. Neither the Qatari authorities nor Delhi have released the charges against them.
