(L – R) Rachid Afatti, Ouziad Younes, and Ejjoud Abdessamad could face the death penalty for the murders of two Scandinavian backpackers (Picture: AFP)

Three jihadist suspects on trial in Morocco for murdering two young Scandinavian hikers are facing the death penalty.

Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and Maren Ueland, 28, of Norway, were found dead in the High Atlas mountains last December while on a hiking trip.

Suspected ringleader and underground Imam Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, and Younes Ouaziyad, 27, admitted they beheaded the girls, while Rachid Afatti, 33, filmed the murders on his phone.

Moroccan prosecutors branded the three ‘bloodthirsty murderers’ as they called for them to receive the death penalty for the crimes on Thursday at an anti-terror court in Sale, near Rabat.


However, Morocco has had a de facto freeze on executions since 1993.



The prosecution told the court how an autopsy report had found 23 injuries on Miss Jespersen’s decapitated body and seven on that of Miss Ueland.

Maren Ueland was killed while on holiday last December (Picture: Facebook/marenueland)

Louisa Jespersen was decapitated in the brutal killing (Picture: Facebook/louisajespersen)

It also called for jail terms of between 15 years and life for the 21 other defendants on trial.

The life sentence was sought for plumber Abderrahim Khayali, 33, who had accompanied the three assailants but left the scene before the murders.

Another 20 years were sought for Kevin Zoller Guervos, a Spanish-Swiss convert to Islam.

All but three of those on trial said they were supporters of the Islamic State (IS) group, according to the prosecution.

Lawyers representing Miss Jespersen said the tragedy could have been avoided and blamed Moroccan authorities for failing to monitor the suspects before the killings.

The three had sworn allegiance to Isis (Picture: AFP/Getty)

The women were killed in the High Atlas mountains, near Imlil in Morocco (Picture: Getty)

Khaled El Fataouis said the girls’ lives would have been spared if officials heeded information on the behaviour of street vendor Ejjoud, who had been convicted for trying to join IS in Syria.

He was released early from prison in 2015 and went on to meet former inmates and other individuals without checks by authorities, added Fataouis.

He alleged police had been informed of their activities but failed to act on the information.

Lawyer Houssine Raji added the suspects met in Koranic schools run by cleric Mohamed al-Maghraoui, which had been shut in 2010 under a court decision but ordered to be reopened in 2012 by the justice minister.

Prosecutors are calling for the maximum sentence (Picture: Reuters)

The lawyers demanded that Maghraoui and the then justice minister Mustapha Ramid be summoned for questioning but the request was rejected by the court.

Investigators have said the ‘cell’ was inspired by IS ideology, but Morocco’s anti-terror chief insisted the accused had no contact with the jihadist group in conflict zones.

IS has never claimed responsibility for the murders.

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