Foreign News
Qatar frees eight ex-Indian navy officers previously on death row
A Qatari court has released eight former Indian naval officers previously on death row for unspecified charges.
Seven of the men have already returned to India, Delhi’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
In January, authorities said their death penalty had been converted into prison sentences of “varying” lengths. Neither Qatar nor India revealed the charges against the men, who were working for Dahra Global, a private firm in Qatar.
But Financial Times and Reuters have reported that the men were charged with spying for Israel.
“We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” Delhi’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The arrest of the men had made front-page headlines in India in 2022.
India said in October last year that it was ‘deeply shocked’ after the Court of First Instance in Qatar sentenced the men to death. The Indian foreign ministry subsequently filed an appeal against the sentence. The conviction of the men briefly disturbed ties between the two countries but experts say sustained diplomatic efforts have resulted in the release of the men. In December, India’s foreign ministry said its ambassador to Qatar had met the men in prison.Later that month, the ministry said the Court of Appeal in Qatar had commuted their death sentences. In January, a ministry spokesperson confirmed the death penalty had been converted into varying prison sentences but did not reveal the quantum of the jail terms.
India and Qatar are close allies. Delhi recently signed a $78bn (£62bn) deal to import liquified natural gas from Doha until the end of 2048.
(BBC)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a former Navy commander to head the country’s domestic security services, despite the courts having blocked his bid to fire the previous head of Shin Bet.
Netanyahu’s office announced on Monday that he had nominated Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit to lead the agency, which surveils attacks from abroad and at home, including by armed groups based in Palestine and Lebanon. However, a halt to the sacking of Ronen Bar as head of Shin Bet, ordered by the Supreme Court, remains in place.
[Aljazeera]
The Trump administration has deported 17 more alleged gang members to El Salvador, the US state department has said, despite legal battles over removing people to the Central American country’s supermax prison.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group included members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs.
Salvadoran government officials told the BBC they included a mix of Venezuelans and Salvadorans.
Earlier this month a court ordered a halt to deportations carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law previously used only in wartime. However, US media, citing administration sources, reported that the recent deportations were made under general immigration laws.
In a statement, Rubio said the group included “murderers and rapists”, but did not provide names or details of the alleged crimes or of any convictions.
In a post on X, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele shared a dramatically edited video showing shackled men being loaded off a plane and their heads being shaved before they were put into prison cells.
“All individuals are confirmed murderers and high-profile offenders, including six child rapists,” he wrote. “This operation is another step in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.”
President Trump reposted the message, blamed the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden for allowing the deportees into the US and thanked Bukele for “giving them such a wonderful place to live”.
El Salvador has agreed to take in deportees in exchange for $6m (£4.6m).
Family members of some of those who were previously sent to the maximum security prison have denied they have any gang ties.
After Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove more than 100 Venezuelans from the US earlier this month, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union filed a legal challenge alleging the administration had illegally denied the immigrants due process.
In a hearing on 15 March, James Boasberg, the top federal judge in Washington DC, imposed a temporary restraining order on the use of the law and ordered deportation flights that were in the air to be turned around.
But the deportations proceeded. The next hearing in the case will be held on Thursday.
[BBC]
Foreign News
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for public office for five years, meaning she would not be able to run in the 2027 French presidential election
She was found guilty of embezeeling European funds to finance her French far-right National Rally (RN) party.
[BBC]
US attacks kill 4 in Yemen as second aircraft carrier sent to Middle East
Former chief minister of North Central Province, SM Ranjith sentenced to 16 years RI
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