According to a report in the Financial Times, the eight Indians had been charged with spying for Israel. There was no official word on the charges from the Indian side.
Sources said since the verdict has been given by Qatar’s Court of First Instance, the Indian embassy in Doha is reaching out to top legal experts in Qatar, including a former government counsel in a top Qatar court, to appeal the sentence.
The embassy is turning to a couple of top lawyers in Doha for guidance on the death row case.
It is also looking at the charges and the basis on which the court took such a harsh view of the offence.
The legal challenge is also the opacity with which the entire trial has been conducted — and Delhi is trying to access the court documents.
The Qatari authorities, sources said, never gave an explanation on the exact reasons for the arrest of the eight men.