Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday expressed shock over eight former Indian Navy personnel being handed down the death sentence by a court in Qatar and said the entire case is shrouded in “mystery and opacity”. The navy personnel were on Thursday handed down the death sentence by a court in Qatar, a verdict that was described as “deeply shocking” by India as it vowed to explore all legal options. In a post on X, Tharoor said, “Shocked to learn that Qatar has passed a death sentence on eight former Indian Navy officers. The details of the entire case are shrouded in mystery & opacity.”
“Trust @MEAIndia & @PMOIndia will act immediately with the highest levels of the Qatar government to support an appeal and bring them home,” the former minister of state for external affairs said. 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 death sentence, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said it is attaching “high importance” to this case and is exploring all legal options. The eight Navy veterans when they were arrested were working at Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services. It was a private firm of an Oman Air Force officer which provided training and other services to Qattar's armed forces and security agencies. After the arrest of the eight Indians, the company was closed.'Dahra is a world-class supplier of military aircraft parts to defence and related industries. Our core area of business is defence services; the procurement and sale of equipment," the website of the company claimed. Seven out of the 8 Indians sentenced to death in Qatar were decorated officers in the Indian Navy. Purnendu Tiwari who served as the managing director of Al Dahra was conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award four years ago. This is the highest honour for NRIs/Persons of Indian Origin and Purnendu Tiwari was the first from the Indian armed forces to be awarded this.