He Qatar ha set free eight former Indian Navy officers who had been sentenced to death in October (but the death sentence had already been commuted to prison in December). The charges with which they were convicted were never made public by Qatar or India: according to sources cited by Reuters they would have been accused of spying for Israel. At the time of their arrest the eight men were collaborating on a submarine project with a Qatari company.
India and Qatar have important economic ties due to energy supplies. A few days ago the two countries signed the largest agreement so far for the supply of natural gas from Qatar to India, and in December Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss the «wellbeing of the Indian community in Qatar». Around 800 thousand Indian workers live in the Arab country.