(Bloomberg) --
The eight former Indian navy personnel sentenced to death by a Qatari court were accused of espionage, an Indian official familiar with the matter said.
The men were training Qatari navy personnel in the country, the person said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
India's government said Thursday it's exploring legal options after it received initial information of the sentencing. The eight Indians were employees of Al Dahra company, the Ministry of External Affairs said, without specifying the charges they faced in Qatar.
“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgment,” the ministry said in a statement. India will take up the sentencing with the Qatari authorities, it added.
Qatar's government hasn't made public any details about the case.
India and Qatar have strong cultural, economic and defense ties. Bilateral trade between the two stood at $9.21 billion in 2020-21, and Qatar is the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to India accounting for for over 50% of South Asian country's LNG imports. India trains Qatari military officers at its defense institutions, and over 700,000 Indian nationals reside in Qatar, making them the largest expatriate community in the Gulf state.
The case is likely to pose a new diplomatic headache for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government after it was recently accused by Canada of orchestrating the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in the country. India's government has dismissed Canada's allegations as “absurd.”
(Updates with addional details.)
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