Guwahati: The Indian government got consular access to the eight former Indian Navy personnel on death row in Qatar on 3 December, two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit in Dubai.

“We are closely following the matter and extending all legal and consular assistance. Meanwhile, our ambassador got consular access to meet all eight of them in prison on 3rd December. This is a sensitive issue, but we will continue to follow and whatever we can share, we will do so,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing.

“There have been two hearings. We filed an appeal, from the families, and the detainees had a final appeal,” the spokesperson said, referring to the appeals held on November 23 and 30.