MA

Qatar, a regional gadfly, has become an international rogue elephant by funding violent jihadists, including Hamas. Its judiciary is not independent in practice, as underlined by the case involving eight retired Indian navy officers. The eight, based in Doha, were sentenced to death last October without the charges against them being made public. An appeals court recently reduced their sentences but its order is confidential. So, the case remains "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."