The Government of India on Thursday expressed that it was “deeply shocked” to hear a Qatar court awarding death sentence to 8 former Indian Navy personnel and vowed to explore “all legal options” for assisting their families.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement on Thursday, stating that the government attaches “high importance” to the case against Indian nationals who were all employees of Al Dahra company, advising the Qatari regime on the submarine acquisition. “We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” the MEA statement read.

“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement. We are in touch with the family members and the legal team, and we are exploring all legal options,” it said.

The MEA said it will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance to the Indians.

“We attach high importance to this case, and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities,” the MEA said in a statement.

“Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture,” the MEA observed. As per news reports, even the Qatari establishment did not offer any official reaction on the episode.

On October 1, India’s ambassador to Qatar met the former Navy personnel after being granted consular access. Their families have been requesting central government to intervene and get them free.

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