India appeals against death row of 8 Navy veterans in Qatar

An appeal has been filed against the death sentence handed down to eight former Indian Navy personnel by a Qatari court last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian embassy in Doha received another consular access to the detained Indians on Tuesday and that New Delhi will continue to extend all legal and consular support to them.

The eight former Indian Navy personnel were on October 26 given death sentence by Qatar's Court of First Instance. India described the ruling as "deeply" shocking and vowed to explore all legal options in the case.

"An appeal has already been filed in the case," Bagchi said at his weekly media briefing.

The Indian nationals, who worked with private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August last year reportedly in an alleged case of espionage.

Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the charges against the Indian nationals public.

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

The charges were filed against the eight Indian Navy veterans on March 25 and they were tried under Qatari law.

All of the former Navy officers had "unblemished stints" of up to 20 years in the Indian Navy and had held important positions including that of instructors in the force, former military officials had said.

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