8 Indians get 60 days to contest Qatar jail terms

The eight jailed former Indian Navy personnel in Qatar have been given 60 days’ time to appeal against the varying prison terms handed by a Qatari court last week that came following commutation of their death sentences, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

The Court of Appeal in Qatar on December 28 commuted the death sentence handed down to the Indians in October and sentenced them to prison for varying durations, weeks after their family members filed an appeal against the earlier order by another court.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the legal team of the Indian nationals received a copy of the court order that he described as a “confidential document”.

“On December 28, the Court of Appeal had given a judgement. Thereafter, we issued a press release giving details (and) telling that the death penalty has been reduced. Now, we have the judgement order, which is a confidential document,” he said.