25 Indians face death sentence in UAE
The Indian government has said that 25 Indian nationals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been sentenced to death, but their executions have not yet been carried out.
This was revealed in Parliament on March 20, by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh.
He was answering a question in the Rajya Sabha about Indian prisoners in foreign countries, including those facing capital punishment.
According to him, there are currently 10,152 Indians in prisons abroad, including those still on trial.
Singh also shared numbers from eight countries where Indians have been given the death penalty but are yet to be executed.
Apart from the UAE, there are 11 such cases in Indonesia, six in Qatar, three in the US, and one each in Yemen and another unnamed country.
The minister said the Indian government is actively helping these prisoners. Officials from Indian embassies visit them in jail and assist them in legal matters including filing appeals and mercy petitions to try and reduce or overturn the sentence.
The government was also asked if any Indians had been executed in foreign countries over the past five years. Singh confirmed that executions had taken place in Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Zimbabwe.
Three Indians were executed in both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 2024, while one was put to death in Zimbabwe. In 2023, five Indians were executed in both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and one in Malaysia.
The situation in the UAE remains unclear. The country does not officially share such data with India. However, according to informal sources, no Indians have been executed in the UAE from 2020 to 2024.
