The Court of First Instance of Qatar on Thursday handed death sentences to eight former Indian Navy personnel who were arrested in Doha on 30th August 2022 by Qatar intelligence agency and had been reportedly kept in confinement.

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, had expressed that it was “shocked by the verdict of death penalty”. In an official statement, MEA also said that India was “awaiting the detailed judgement” while also exploring all legal options with the families of the eight men and the legal team.

The former Indian Navy servicemen were employees of Al Dahra Global, a Qatar based company, and were supposedly arrested on charges of spying for Israel. The owner of the company was also reportedly arrested but later released while the eight Indian nationals remained imprisoned.

MEA on Thursday also assured that it would take up the case with the Qatari authorities and did not comment further “Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case”.

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The case of the eight former Navy personnel in Qatar prison has been shrouded in secrecy ever since they were detained as neither of the governments have made the details public. It has been reported that even their families are not aware of the charges against them.

The men are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurab Vasisht, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Ragesh.

Congress MP Manish Tiwari had on 7th December 2022 raised the matter in the Lok Sabha to which Union Minister Dr S Jaishankar had replied, “The interest of the 8 detained Indian ex-servicemen is of paramount importance for the government. Efforts have been made to ensure that they are given fair treatment and that they are released and repatriated to India at the earliest.” On Thursday. MEA reaffirmed that the case was of ‘high importance’.

Hindustan Times claimed in a report that India has launched quiet efforts “through diplomatic and official channels to find a resolution to the matter.”

The Indian Embassy in Qatar says that there are over 8 lakh Indian expatriates in the oil rich Islamic country.

The value of bilateral trade between Qatar and India is said to be more than $18bn.