India's appeal against the death penalty served to 8 Navy veterans accepted by Qatar

A Qatari court has granted India's appeal against the death penalty for eight former Indian Navy officers sentenced to death in October, in connection to an alleged case of espionage. The appeal will be thoroughly reviewed before a date is set for the hearing.

The arrested veterans include Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, and Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar. The Indian authorities have been trying to obtain their release since they were granted consular access.

Meetu Bhargava, the sister of one of the arrested former officers, had pleaded for governmental intervention in bringing her brother back home. On June 8, she asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in a post on X. The Indian Prime Minister, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh were tagged to her post. "These Ex-Navy officers are the pride of the nation & again I request our Hon'ble Prime Minister with folded hands that it is high time that they all are brought back to India immediately without any further delay," posted Meenu Bhargava.

The former Navy Officials, now detained in Qatar have an illustrious service history of up to 20 years. They have held important posts, including that of instructors.

The 8 former Navy Officers were arrested for allegedly spying by Qatar's Intelligence Agency in August 2022. However, the exact charges levelled against them by the Qatari authorities have not yet been made public. Their bail pleas were repeatedly denied, and the Court of First Instance in Qatar issued a ruling against them in October 2023.​