Eight Indian Navy veterans sentenced to death in Qatar, charges unknown

On 26 September, a court in Qatar sentenced eight Indians to death. Curiously, though they have been in prison for the past 14 months, charges against them have not been disclosed. Neither the Qatari government nor the Indian government has bothered to explain why they were picked up for questioning in August 2022, and what the contents of the charge sheet are against them.

All the eight had earlier served the Indian Navy and were employed by a Doha-based consultancy, Al-Dahra. They were picked up in August 2022 for questioning and were sentenced to death on Thursday.

The eight are identified as Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh.

While there has been some speculation regarding Qatar’s reported claims that the eight men are guilty of espionage, the charge has not been confirmed.