“We are happy to have seven of those Indian nationals back. The eighth Indian has also been released and we continue to work with the Qatar government to see how quickly his return to India would be possible.”
— Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra
Eight Indian navy veterans who had been in Qatari custody since August 30, 2022 were released February 11 in Doha. Indian officials escorted seven of the eight former death row prisoners to New Delhi by a passenger flight during the early hours of February 12. The development was followed by the announcement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Qatar on February 14 afternoon on his way back home from the United Arab Emirates where he paid a two-day visit during February 13-14, reported The Hindu.
“We are happy to have seven of those Indian nationals back. The eighth Indian has also been released and we continue to work with the Qatar government to see how quickly his return to India would be possible,” said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
The details of the case in which the men were arrested were not shared with the media by either side while the Indian officials maintained that the case was “sensitive”. The men were given the death penalty by a lower court in Qatar on October 26, 2023 that had shocked India. Subsequently, a court of appeals in Doha struck down the death penalty on December 28.
Though Qatar has released eight Indian prisoners, it continues to hold at least 752 Indians and the United Arab Emirates holds around 2,200 Indian in its jails
The case of the eight Indian navy veterans kept India-Qatar relation on tenterhooks as the matter became an issue of diplomatic tug-of-war since they were arrested in August 2022 and the cause of the arrest was never publicised. The men had earlier appealed against the death sentence of a lower court in Doha that was subsequently commuted to a sentence of varying periods for the eight individuals. Appreciating the decision of the Qatari legal authorities to release the Indians, Kwatra said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi “personally supervised all developments”.
Earlier, there were expectations that Qatar would set the eight men free ahead of Ramzan or Id.
The Hindu had published earlier that both the United Arab Emirates and Qatar hold around 3,000 Indian prisoners in their prisons and the prisons in the Gulf region hold more than half of the total Indian prisoners in foreign jails spread across 89 countries.
Though Qatar has released eight Indian prisoners, it continues to hold at least 752 Indians and the United Arab Emirates holds around 2,200 Indian in its jails.
The last time a major Gulf nation had released Indian prisoners was in 2019 when Prince Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia had announced the release of 850 Indian prisoners from Saudi jails during a visit to India. In response to a question from The Hindu, Kwatra said the Government of India has “extensive mechanisms” in place to ensure that the Indian prisoners in the Gulf and elsewhere will receive consular assistance.
***********************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com