Morocco: Prosecution Demands Death Sentence for Murderers of Scandinavian Tourists

Security measures taken upon the arrival of the accused to Salé Court of Appeal, nearRabat, on Thursday, October 24, 2019 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Security measures taken upon the arrival of the accused to Salé Court of Appeal, nearRabat, on Thursday, October 24, 2019 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Morocco: Prosecution Demands Death Sentence for Murderers of Scandinavian Tourists

Security measures taken upon the arrival of the accused to Salé Court of Appeal, nearRabat, on Thursday, October 24, 2019 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Security measures taken upon the arrival of the accused to Salé Court of Appeal, nearRabat, on Thursday, October 24, 2019 (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Morocco’s Public Prosecution has demanded “upholding and executing” the death sentence against three key suspects in the murder of two female Scandinavian tourists in December 2018.

The demand came during a session that lasted until late Wednesday ahead of the Appeals Chamber of the Salé Court of Appeal, near Rabat.

At the sixth hearing of the appeal phase, the prosecutor requested changing the sentence against the fourth main defendant in the case, Abderrahim Khayali, 33, from life to death sentence.

Khayyali, a plumber who had accompanied the three alleged assailants but left the scene before the murders happened.

Defense pleadings will continue on October 30 before the Court of Appeal renders its judgment.

Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, a 24-year-old Danish student, and her friend Maren Ueland, a 28-year-old Norwegian, were savagely killed while camping on an isolated site in the High Atlas Mountains.

The three main defendants pleaded guilty, and on July 18 the court sentenced Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, Younes Ouaziyad, 27, and Rachid Afatti, 33, to death after being convicted on charges of murder and forming a terrorist gang.

The prosecution has called for jail terms of between five years and life for the 21 other defendants on trial since May 2.

The court sentenced Kevin Zoller Guervos, a Spanish-Swiss convert to Islam, to 20 years for joining a “terrorist group.”

The Public Prosecutor also sought to uphold the convictions of between five and 30 years in prison for 20 other defendants, aged between 20 and 50.

These were charged with “forming a terrorist cell, praising terrorism and not reporting a crime” although the majority of those defendants denied the charges.

In his plead before the court, representative of the Public Prosecution noted the seriousness of the “terrorist schemes planned by members of this cell in Morocco after they were unable to join ISIS in hotbeds of tension abroad.”

He stressed that they targeted foreign tourists, a church and a synagogue in Marrakech, in addition to targeting security forces and seizing their weapons.



UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

 UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

 UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)

The United Nations’ special rapporteur for Gaza and the West Bank said Tuesday that it's time for nations around the world to take concrete actions to stop what she called the “genocide” in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 countries meeting in Colombia’s capital to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and ways that nations can try to stop Israel’s military offensive in the territory. Many of the participating nations have described the violence as genocide against the Palestinians.

“Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel ... and ensure its private sector does the same,” Albanese said. “The Israeli economy is structured to sustain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.”

The two-day conference organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa is being attended mostly by developing nations, although the governments of Spain, Ireland and China have also sent delegates.

Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel.”

Analysts say it’s not clear whether the conference's participating countries have enough leverage over Israel to force it to change its policies in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed in Israeli military operations following a deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. The death toll comes from the health ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas government and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

“The United States has so far failed to influence Israel’s behavior ... so it is naive to think that this group of countries can have any influence over (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s behavior or on the government of Israel,” said Sandra Borda, a professor of international relations at Bogota’s Los Andes University.

She said, however, that the conference will enable some nations of the Global South to clarify their position toward the conflict and have their voices heard.

The conference is co-chaired by the governments of South Africa and Colombia, which last year suspended coal exports to Israeli power plants, and includes the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight nations that earlier this year pledged to cut military ties with Israel and to comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

For decades, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank with its own history of oppression under the harsh apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

South Africa’s current argument is rooted in the sentiment that Palestinians have been oppressed in their homeland as Black South Africans were under apartheid.

The gathering comes as the European Union weighs various measures against Israel that include a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and individual sanctions against Israeli officials, who are found to be blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Colombia’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo said Monday that the nations participating in the Bogota meeting, which also include Qatar and Türkiye, will be discussing diplomatic and judicial measures that can be taken to put more pressure on Israel to cease its attacks.

The Colombian official described Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an affront to the international order.

“This is not just about Palestine” Jaramillo said in a press conference. “It is about defending international law... and the right to self-determination.”