Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally supervised the case of eight ex-Navy personnel on death row in Qatar, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Monday, hours after the country announced their release. The officer also said PM Modi never shied away from any initiatives to ensure the return of the ex-government officials

We are happy to have seven of those Indian nationals back. The eighth Indian national has also been released and we continue to work with the Qatar government to see how quickly his return to India would be possible,” the foreign official said.

The Indian nationals were arrested by the Qatar intelligence agency in August 2022, on allegations of espionage and Qatar’s Court of First Instance handing over death sentences to them on October 26, which came as a surprise for the Indian government. Since the MEA and PM Modi launched extensive diplomatic efforts, the Court of Appeal on December 28, reduced the capital punishment to jail terms for varying durations to each of eight Navy veterans. Throughout the court trial, Qatar authorities, former Navy officials, and the Indian government kept silent on the case and even the release came as a surprise on Monday