Qatar Releases Ex-Indian Navy Men; Misinformation About Same Was Viral Earlier

Qatar released eight former Indian Navy servicemen in February 2024. It had not made any such announcement earlier.

Fact-check: A false claim about Qatar cancelling the death sentence recently handed out to eight former Indian Navy servicemen is going viral as real.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

(Editor's Note: This fact-check was first published in December 2023, when there was no official announcement regarding the cancellation of the death sentence given to eight former Indian Navy servicemen. However, on 12 February 2024, the Qatari government released the veterans.)

A claim with an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral on the internet stating that Qatar has "cancelled the death sentence" that was handed out to eight former Indian Navy servicemen in October.

This comes after PM Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani during the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday, 1 December.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What's the truth?: A source from the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed to The Quint that Qatar has not passed such judgement of cancellation of death sentence for the eight former Indian Navy servicemen.

• Sources close to the family also dismissed the claim.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search but found no reports to back the claim.

• We also checked the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar, which did not carry any report about the claim.

• The Quint reached out to sources close to the family of the servicemen who confirmed that the viral claim is false.

• The latest update about this matter from the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr S Jaishankar, was about him connecting with the families of the eight former servicemen.

• He also stated that the government is still making "efforts to secure their release".

The post of X can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

The Quint reached out to sources from the Ministry of External Affairs: The source confirmed that no such statement about cancellation of the death sentence against eight former Indian Navy servicemen has been issued by Qatar.

• "The claims are untrue, and I would advise that we refrain from speculation as the Qatari court continues to hear the appeal," added the source.

More about the case: On 26 October, Qatar Court handed out death penalty to eight Indians including seven retired naval officers and a sailor.

• These former servicemen worked with a private company, Al Dahra.

• They were arrested in August 2022, reportedly in an alleged case of espionage for spying on a submarine programme on behalf of Israel.

• The ex-Navy servicemen, many of whom are highly decorated officers, have been identified as Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, and Sailor Ragesh.

Conclusion: A false claim about Qatar quashing the death sentence recently handed out to eight former Indian Navy servicemen is going viral as real.

(With inputs from Pranay Dutta Roy.)

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