On 17 December 2018, the bodies of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, a 24-year-old Danish woman, and Maren Ueland, a 28-year-old Norwegian woman, were found decapitated in the foothills of Mount Toubkal near to the village of Imlil in the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. A total of 18 men have been arrested by Moroccan Police in relation to the murders. The murders were described by the Moroccan general prosecutor as a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

act, after a video released on the Internet showed several of the suspects swearing allegiance to the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

while decapitating Jespersen. Initially, detectives believed the crimes were sexually motivated, with witnesses and CCTV indicating the suspects followed the women. They were also camped 600 meters from the women. French authorities demanded extradition of the three assailants. Moroccan authorities denied this due to the fact that the crime took place in Morocco; since then the three assailants have been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Morocco. These are the first death sentences handed out by Morocco since 1993. The executions are due to be completed within 30 years.

Background

Louisa Vesterager Jespersen (born 1994) grew up in Ikast, Denmark. She attended Vestre School, and became a student at the in 2013. She had been traveling to various countries, such as Argentina, Peru, and Norway. Jespersen applied for participation in the Fjällräven Polar expedition in 2017 and 2018. Maren Ueland (born 1990) was from Bryne, Norway and was a trained social and healthcare assistant. Jespersen and Ueland were students at the University of South-Eastern Norway, where they studied

outdoor recreation Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

and nature guidance to become tour guides. The pair had arrived in Morocco on 9 December as tourists, with the intention of trekking and "chasing experiences", according to Jespersen's mother. The two women first arrived in

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

, before traveling to Imlil in the

. The village of Imlil is popular with travellers as the main base for summiting Toubkal, which is the highest peak in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. Four attackers had shared a video on social media before the attacks, pledging allegiance to the ISIS terror group, and discussed "destruction caused by the warplanes of the Crusader alliance". One of the attackers stated, "Keep fighting the enemies of

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

, wherever you are, you have no excuse and, be informed that we are your supporters… you have allies among us". According to Swedish Defense University researcher Magnus Ranstorp, terrorists attacking tourists is not a new phenomenon, and it aims to destabilize the country where such attacks take place. While Morocco is generally seen as a secure destination for tourists, the last terrorist attack happened in 2011, where 17 people were killed by a bombing at a restaurant in Marrakesh. One of them was 18-year-old Salome Girard, a friend of Maren Ueland. Over 1,600 people have traveled from Morocco to join the Islamic State in the Syrian civil war. Moroccan authorities initially ignored the people who joined ISIS but later realized they could return to commit terrorist offenses in Morocco. As a result, the ' (BCIJ) was formed. According to a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, "Moroccan authorities appear to have a good grip on the

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

situation, and cooperate with European and US authorities". Moroccans are overrepresented in "

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

terrorism", which is terrorism which takes place outside the borders of Morocco; for example, two Moroccans were behind the 2017 London Bridge attack, a Moroccan killed people by driving his van into pedestrians in La Rambla in the 2017 Barcelona terrorist attacks, and the following day, another Moroccan killed two women and wounded 8 other victims in the 2017 Turku attack.

Murders and investigation

On the morning of 17 December 2018, a pair of French hikers came across the decapitated bodies of the victims, and their tent, near a trail connecting Imlil to Mount Toubkal. A suspect named Abderrahim Khayali was quickly apprehended following the incident, after police found an ID in the victims' tent, that had been left behind by the suspect. Three additional suspects, Abdessamad Ejjoud, Rachid Afatti, and Younes Ouaziyad, were later apprehended by the police while riding a bus during the morning rush hour in the nearby city of

. The three suspects were caught in possession of bladed weapons. Abdessamad Ejjoud is assumed to be the leader of the group, and the four men had shot a video the week before the murders, where they pledged allegiance to ISIS. The killers had agreed to carry out a terrorist act on either security services or foreign tourists, before deciding to travel to the Imlil region to look for foreigners, and where they would target the two backpackers. In the video of the killings, the attackers can be heard shouting "enemies of Allah", and "revenge for our brothers in Hajin". Moroccan police later made additional arrests of individuals believed to have connections with the suspects.

Trial

In total, 24 went on trial in Salé, near

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

in Morocco. Of those charged, 23 suspects are Moroccans from

, and one is a Swiss-Spanish Muslim convert. Three of them were charged with murder, and the other 23 of various terrorist charges. In May 2019, one of the suspects admitted to killing one of the women. He had previously been jailed for having attempted to join the Islamic State in Syria, and was released in 2015. In July 2019, three of the suspects were given a death sentence, which their lawyer said he would appeal.

Appeal

On October 31 2019, the death sentence for three of the convicted was upheld by the anti-terrorist court in Salé. In total, 24 suspects connected to the murders, or who were members of the jihadist cell, were sentenced. The prime suspect, Abdessamad Ejjoud, was 25 years of age and organized the murder expedition with two accomplices, Younes Ouaziyad (27) and Rachid Afatti (33) who filmed the murders. A fourth suspect, Abderrahim Khayali, had his sentence elevated from

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

to the death penalty. Khayali was part of the expedition into the mountain, but left the group before the killings. The court upheld received sentences from 5 to 30 years in prison for nineteen of the accused, and elevated one sentence from 15 to 20 years in prison. Ejjoud used his chance to speak before the sentence to ask for the death penalty, as he believed in neither the laws nor human rights. Ouaziyad and Afatti recited verses from the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

. Like in the first trial, the court ordered the four prime suspects to pay 190,000 euros to the parents of Maren Ueland. The death penalty is still in effect in Morocco. In practice, no executions have taken place since 1993. As of 2024, the suspects are still awaiting execution. On 28 February 2023, Abderrahim Khayali committed suicide by hanging with a piece of cloth taken from his clothes anchored to a window; he was awaiting execution at the local prison in Oujda.

Funerals

The remains of the victims were flown to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark on 21 December 2018. Jespersen's funeral was held in her native town of Ikast, Denmark on 12 January. The

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark (, , ) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not init ...

, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, attended the funeral. Ueland was buried on 21 January in Jæren, Norway. The Norwegian Minister of Health, Bent Høie, and the Moroccan Ambassador, Lamia Radi, attended the ceremony.

Aftermath

In Morocco, news of the attack was met with widespread outrage and condemnation. The incident received extensive coverage in the international press. Reactions in the native countries of the victims were of shock and outrage. A public torchlit vigil was held in Ueland's native town of Bryne in support of her family and loved ones. Vigils for the victims were held in

, Morocco at the embassies of Norway and Denmark, along with vigils in

and Imlil. Two videos, one depicting the murder, and another where the suspects filmed themselves swearing allegiance to

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

, were published onto social media. Moroccan authorities and Norway's National Criminal Investigation Service agents have said the videos are authentic.

Background

Murders and investigation

Trial

Appeal

Funerals

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading