The next hearing of the case against eight former Indian Navy officials in Qatar in the case of alleged espionage will be held in Doha on Wednesday, May 3. was allowed.
Air travel and accommodation in Qatar for the relatives of the arrested officials has been arranged by the company in the spirit of goodwill. The employees have been informed that their employment will be terminated.
According to reports, Doha-based Zahira Alami has asked all its employees of Indian nationality to resign. The number of employees having Indian citizenship in the company is 75, out of which the majority are ex-servicemen of the Indian Navy. All these employees have been informed in April that their last day of employment will be May 31. As per the contract, his tenure was till 2029.
The eight Indian officials accused of espionage have already been dismissed and their severance pay has also been settled.
Eight Indian navy personnel were arrested in early September and charged with espionage at the first trial in March, but the Qatari government has not disclosed the details of the charges to the Indian government. What is it.
Relatives of the arrested officials may be allowed to attend a second hearing on Wednesday and may be given details of the charges, it is said.
According to some reports, some of the charges against the eight officials and the head of the company, Khamis Al-Ajami, are common and some charges are of a specific nature.
Khamis Al Ajami is a retired squadron leader of the Royal Air Force of Oman. He was arrested along with Indian officials but was released last November. The arrested Indian officials and their relatives have denied these allegations.
According to Indian media and other media outlets, these former naval officers are accused of having allegedly provided Israel with details of Qatar’s secret program to purchase state-of-the-art Italian-made submarines.
Qatar’s intelligence agency claims that they have electronic evidence of this alleged espionage.
The former Indian Navy chief, who worked for a private defense company (Zahira Al-Alami), trained various types of training for Qatari naval personnel. Provides.
The company employed these ex-naval personnel under an agreement between India and Qatar.
After the arrest of the Indian officials in September, some of his close relatives campaigned on social media for his release, but gradually everyone has gone silent. Some of them have reached Doha to attend the May 3 hearing.
