Duta Besar Ashok Sajjanhar, Suresh K Goel dan Robinder Sachdev
New Delhi: After a Qatar court commuted the death sentence of eight Indian ex-Navy personnel, foreign affairs expert Robinder Sachdev hailed India’s diplomacy and said that the new verdict by the Qatari court is a big relief for the arrested personnel and their families.
“No doubt, you see diplomacy has also worked. It shows Prime Minister Modi met the mayor of Qatar on the sidelines of the CoP28 which was being held in Dubai recently. So this would have been certainly brought up by the PM with the mayor of Qatar,” he said.
He added, “The judgment by the Qatari court is indeed a huge, huge relief for the families in India. At the same time, there is still some distance ahead because what has happened, is whether the court has commuted or instead of the death sentence has handed some other judgment, which we do at least. As of now, the question will be what is the judgment that the court has now announced?.”
He said further, “Yes, we understand that the death sentence is no longer in the picture, which is a huge relief. But what else is, because the point is that if the court has kind of judged this as a different category of an episode, then is it a five-year sentence, a ten-year sentence, a 20-year sentence? How long would that sentence be? That is one. But the hope we have is that whatever the sentence in the coming days and months, that sentence could perhaps also be reduced so that we have these sailors back home as soon as possible.”
Additionally, Former diplomat Suresh K Goel also appreciated the Indian government’s efforts which resulted in commuting the sentence of Indian naval officers and hoped that if government could ensure their transfer to India in the coming days.
He stated, “After the efforts by the govt, their death sentence has been commuted, hope that in the coming days, with more efforts the sentence reduces further or if they can be transferred to India so that they can serve their rest of the sentence here…efforts will continue.”
Moreover, Former Diplomat, Ashok Sajjanhar said that the commuted sentence is a “welcome development” and added that this is not the end but a need to ensure that all officers would be brought back home safely.
He noted, ” It is a very welcome development, the whole country was really on an edge…the govt and all those who were involved with it were working very hard to ensure that this sentence is not carried out. This is the first positive development…but of course, this is not the end…we need to ensure that all these officers are brought back home safely with full dignity and all the charges against them are removed.”
Pengadilan Qatar pada hari Kamis meringankan hukuman mati delapan mantan perwira angkatan laut India yang ditangkap tahun lalu dalam kasus Dahra Global, kata Kementerian Luar Negeri dalam pernyataan pers. Hukumannya kini dikurangi menjadi hukuman penjara.
Describing the judgement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “We have noted the verdict today of the Court of Appeal of Qatar in the Dahra Global case, in which the sentences have been reduced.”
MEA juga mengatakan bahwa keputusan rinci dalam kasus ini sedang ditunggu dan sedang berhubungan erat dengan tim hukum di Qatar.
MEA menambahkan, “Keputusan detailnya masih ditunggu. Kami berhubungan erat dengan tim hukum serta anggota keluarga untuk memutuskan langkah selanjutnya. Duta Besar kami untuk Qatar dan pejabat lainnya hadir di Pengadilan Banding hari ini, bersama dengan anggota keluarga. Kami telah mendukung mereka sejak awal masalah ini dan kami akan terus memberikan semua bantuan konsuler dan hukum. Kami juga akan terus membicarakan masalah ini dengan pihak berwenang Qatar.”
Delapan warga negara India tersebut telah dipenjara di Qatar sejak Oktober 2022 dan dituduh memata-matai program kapal selam. Pensiunan personel angkatan laut itu dijatuhi hukuman mati oleh pengadilan Qatar atas tuduhan yang belum diumumkan secara resmi.
Awal bulan ini, MEA menginformasikan bahwa dua sidang telah dilakukan dalam kasus ini.
“Sudah dua kali sidang. Kami mengajukan banding kepada keluarga, dan para tahanan mengajukan banding terakhir. Dua sidang telah diadakan. Yang satu pada tanggal 30 November dan yang lainnya pada tanggal 23 November. Saya pikir sidang berikutnya akan segera diadakan,” kata Bagchi.
Selain itu, Pengadilan Tingkat Pertama Qatar mengeluarkan keputusan terhadap mereka, menurut pernyataan Kementerian Luar Negeri.
Juru bicara MEA juga menyoroti pertemuan baru-baru ini antara Perdana Menteri Narendra Modi dan Emir Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad dan mengatakan bahwa mereka telah melakukan pembicaraan yang baik mengenai hubungan bilateral secara keseluruhan.
Perdana Menteri Narendra Modi bertemu dengan Emir Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani di sela-sela KTT COP28 di Dubai dan membahas kemitraan bilateral dan “kesejahteraan komunitas India” yang tinggal di Qatar.