New Delhi | The Congress Monday expressed relief and happiness at Qatar releasing eight former Indian naval personnel nearly three and a half months after they were handed down death sentences, and it greeted them and their families.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said seven of them have returned to India. It added that India appreciates the decision by the Amir of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of its citizens.

The Navy veterans were on October 26 last year given death sentences by Qatar's Court of First Instance in a case of suspected espionage.

In a post on 'X', Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The Indian National Congress joins the entire nation in its relief and happiness that the eight former Indian Navy personnel earlier sentenced to death by a court in Qatar have been released and are back home." "It sends its greetings and good wishes to them and their families," he said.

Senior Congress leader and former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor said the release of the Indians was "a huge relief".

"It's a huge relief — and a matter of quiet celebration for all Indians — that eight of our compatriots who were sentenced to death in Qatar have been freed & returned home. Congratulations to all those who worked quietly behind the scenes for their release," he said.

The Court of Appeal in the Gulf nation on December 28 last year commuted the capital punishment of the eight Navy veterans and sentenced them to jail terms for varying durations.

The Indian nationals, who worked with the private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August 2022. Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the charges against them public.