The beheaded students
A horrific execution of two innocent Scandinavian students took place in the Atlas Mountains in mid-December 2018. On December 8, 24-year-old Danish student Luisa Vestrager Jespersen and 28-year-old Norwegian student Maren Ueland landed in Morocco to explore the country with their backpacks. Both were avid hikers who had pitched their tents in Toubkal National Park, not far from the village of Imlil. This was a popular starting point for tours to Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains. Both friends had prepared intensively for the trip, as they were determined to celebrate Christmas together in Morocco. But the trip turned out to be a horror trip that ended fatally for both of them. Three men camping only 30 meters away from the two women literally slaughtered them. They dragged the two women out of their tents and then decapitated them with a long knife. The gruesome execution was filmed on a cell phone. After the murder, the perpetrators pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State jihadist militia, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a video. In another video, they showed the beheading of one of the two victims and spoke of the “heads of God’s enemies.” The bodies of the two beheaded women were found in the village of Imlil, 10 kilometers away. The brutal execution sent the entire country into shock. Many Moroccans held vigils for the two innocent students who were killed. The horrific act was carried out in revenge for the recent killing of IS brothers in Hajine, Syria, an IS stronghold that had been bombed. The Islamist-motivated murder caused worldwide outrage. The three main perpetrators were 25-year-old Eijoud Abdessamad, 27-year-old Younes Ouziad, and 33-year-old Rachid Afatti. A total of 24 men were brought before the court in the Moroccan city of Salé on charges of murder, illegal possession of weapons, and forming a terrorist group. The terrorist group consisted of Islamic clerics, former convicts, and a Swiss convert with Spanish roots who had maintained contact with IS in Syria via coded messages. However, IS never claimed responsibility for the brutal beheading of the two Scandinavian students. The accomplices of the three main defendants received prison sentences ranging from 5 to 30 years. The three main defendants themselves, who repented for their actions, were sentenced to death. Although the death penalty is imposed in Morocco, it is not usually carried out.
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