NEW DELHI: The deportation of eight naval veterans who are under arrest in Qatar hasn’t happened despite both sides signing a treaty in 2015 on the transfer of sentenced prisoners between the two countries.
Arrested on August 30, 2022, the veterans were awarded capital punishment by a trial court a few months ago, but the sentences were on Thursday commuted to between three and 25 years of imprisonment by a Court of Appeal.
The hitch in the transfer of prisoners is possibly because Qatar didn’t ratify the treaty. The treaty was signed during the visit of the then Qatari Foreign Minister Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah. “Once a treaty like this one is signed, both nations have to ratify it. Not sure whether Qatari side ratified it. We did ratify it in India,’’ said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
The ratification window for both sides stays open for 90 days after the accord is signed. Both countries then exchange their ratification documents. However, no such document from Qatar is available with India. This could possibly be the reason why the naval veterans tried under Qatar law could not be sent to India to serve the rest of their jail term.
“A few months after being kept under detention and in solitary confinement last year, the veterans were asked by the Qatar’s ministry of interior to return home in Doha and pack their bags following which they would be sent to India. When they arrived with their bags, they were again placed under detention. It is possible India was exploring their transfer to the country under the agreement but since it wasn’t ratified by Qatar, it didn’t translate into reality,” said a source.
India has signed treaties for transfer of sentenced persons with 35 countries, which include the UK, Mauritius, Bulgaria, France, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, Israel, the UAE, Italy, Turkey, Maldives, Russia, Canada, the US and Venezuela.
The convention on the transfer of sentenced persons is an international treaty regulating the extradition and social rehabilitation of imprisoned persons. The convention was concluded in Strasbourg on March 21, 1983 and came into effect on July 1, 1985.