Morocco Court Upholds Death Sentences in 2018 Scandinavian Tourist Murders

The justice system has rejected the appeal in cassation of four accused among the 24 prosecuted for the murder, in December 2018, of two Scandinavian tourists in the Imlil region, reports the Arabic-language daily Al Akhbar. Last Wednesday before the criminal chamber in charge of terrorism cases, the presiding judge upheld the death sentence against the three accused, Abdessamad Joud, Younes Ouziad and Rachid Afati. As for Abderrahmane Khayali, his sentence was aggravated to the death penalty after a request from the public prosecutor’s office. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Present at the hearing, the mother of one of the two victims asked the court to execute the one who murdered her daughter.

The court of first instance had handed down sentences ranging from 5 years in prison to the death penalty for four accused, for a total of 403 years in prison against 24 accused, including a Swiss national. Judgments approved in November 2019 by the criminal chamber in charge of terrorism cases near the Court of Appeal of Salé. Two years later, the Court of Cassation had rejected the appeal in cassation of the death sentences handed down against the two main accused in the terrorist acts perpetrated against the two Scandinavian tourists.