Qatar drops death penalty for Filipino ‘spy’

The death sentence handed to a Filipino in Qatar for spying was reduced on appeal by a Doha court on Sunday, May 31, to life imprisonment. The unnamed defendant who was originally sentenced to death, is likely to spend up to 25 years in prison. He worked as a supervisor at Qatar Petroleum. Two other sentences of life imprisonment against another pair of defendants, also from the Philippines, were reduced at the same time by Qatar’s Court of Appeal to 15 years in jail. All 3 had been convicted last year on charges of espionage and passing on Qatar military and economic secrets to the Philippines government. Manila has “emphatically” denied spying on Qatar. All 3 men have been detained since 2010.

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