DAMMAM, 20 May 2007 — A Qatari court is expected today to issue orders to release seven Saudi fishing boats detained by the country’s coast guard on charges of reported trespassing into Qatari waters.
The captains of the vessels have agreed to pay a fine of 50,000 Qatari riyals on each boat as directed by the court.
Ahmad Al-Khatib of the legal firm that represented the Saudi Embassy in Qatar said: “A Qatari criminal court clamped a fine ... on the boats after the sailors admitted their violation of the regulations.”
According to international regulations, ships of a foreign country are not allowed to enter the regional waters of another without the permission of that country.
The sailors had initially refused to comply with the Qatari authorities’ order for each boat to pay a fine of 100,000 Qatari riyals.
Qatar last week released 34 fishermen aboard the detained boats, according to the Indian Embassy in Doha. The fishermen, all from India, have been detained by the Qatari coast guard since the March 21 incident.
A Qatari judge, considering that it was their first such offence, acquitted the Indian fishermen, but ordered the boats’ captains detained until the case was resolved.
