5 Tamil fishers detained by Qatar released

Kanyakumari: Five Tamil Nadu fishermen detained by the Qatar coast guard on January 13 have been released from a Qatar prison. 

The five fishermen-Subash (29) son of Arulappan of Kootapuli, Tirunelveli district, Santhacruz (36), son of Samathanam of Idinthakarai, Tirunelveli district, Prathap (38), son of Gunasekaran of Periyathalai, Thoothukudi district, Sudarson (51), son of Flanisvais of Periyathalai, Thoothukudi district and Sudarson (37), son of Christopher of Rajakamangalamthurai, Kanyakumari district-, were arrested by the Qatar coast guard for trespassing into Qatar waters, while fishing for their Iranian employer. However, they were found to have not entered into Qatar waters with malicious intent during interrogation, and were released by the Qatar government on January 28.

The released Indian Tamil fishermen are expected to reach Kan-yakumari district by Tuesday night, according to Fr Churchill, general secretary of the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF) that made efforts to get the detained fishermen released from the Qatar prison.

The kin of the released prisoners in the southern districts of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari thanked the Indian government and the Indian embassy at Doha for taking swift action to ensure the safe release of the five fishermen. They also thanked Dinesh, Commissioner of Non-Resident Tamils in Chennai, for arranging air tickets for the five fishermen to fly down to Thiruvananthapuram.

The SAFF general secretary, Fr Churchill thanked the Indian government for its timely action for the release of the five fishermen and demanded similar initiative by the external affairs ministry for the speedy release of three more Tamil fishermen-Sahaya Peter (47) of Colachel, Amuthan Carmel (43) of Pozhikarai and Christhuadimai (23) of Kollancode in Kanyakumari district, who were detained by the Iran coast guard at Phissar, suspecting their connections with alleged smugglers.