Morocco Court Sentences Three to Death for Beheading Scandinavian Tourists in ISIS-Linked Attack

The death penalty is thus sought against Abdessamad Ejjoud, a 25-year-old street vendor, considered the mastermind of the group, Younès Ouaziyad, a 27-year-old carpenter, and Rachid Afatti, 33, who had filmed the scene with his mobile phone. A scene whose images had been broadcast on social networks.

The accused remained impassive, when the indictment was read out, before the Anti-Terrorism Court of Salé. "All three confessed before the anti-terrorism court to having beheaded the two young Scandinavian tourists in the name of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS)", of which they claim to be members, reports AFP, adding that they are therefore sentenced to death.

As for the 20 other Moroccan defendants, aged 20 to 51, "all from modest backgrounds and living in underprivileged neighborhoods of Marrakech", the agency recalls, they are sentenced to "sentences ranging from 15 years in prison to life imprisonment". On the other hand, the Prosecutor has requested 20 years in prison against the only foreigner of the group, Kevin Zoller Guervos, a Swiss-Spanish, converted to Islam.

While it should be noted that, since the occurrence of the tragedy and, especially, since the beginning of the trial, petitions have circulated on the internet, demanding the death penalty for the killers of the two Scandinavians, it should be noted that the death sentences are always pronounced in Morocco. However, indicates the AFP, "a de facto moratorium has been in place since 1993 and its abolition is under debate, the new Constitution, adopted in 2011, explicitly providing for the "right to life".

To recall, Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, a 24-year-old Danish student, and her friend, Maren Ueland, a 28-year-old Norwegian, were killed while camping on an isolated site in the High Atlas, a mountainous region in southern Morocco, popular with hikers, the same source points out.