SALÉ, Morocco: The trial of the suspected extremist killers of two Scandinavian women hikers beheaded in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains last December neared its close Thursday as lawyers prepared to deliver their final arguments.
Prosecutors have called for the death penalty for the three main extremist suspects behind the “bloodthirsty” murder of the young Scandinavians.
The maximum sentence was sought for 25-year-old suspected ringleader Abdessamad Ejjoud and two radicalized Moroccans, although the country has had a de facto freeze on executions since 1993.
Petitions on social media have called for their execution.
The three admitted to killing Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland.
The prosecution has called for jail terms of between 15 years and life for the 21 other defendants on trial since May 2 before an anti-terror court in Sale, near Rabat.
The life sentence has been sought for Abderrahim Khayali, a 33-year-old plumber, who had accompanied the three assailants but left the scene before the murders.
The prosecution called for 20 years in jail for Kevin Zoller Guervos, a Spanish-Swiss.
All but three of those on trial had said they were supporters of Daesh, according to the prosecution, although Daesh itself has never claimed responsibility for the murders.
The three killers of the girls were “bloodthirsty monsters,” the prosecution said, pointing out that an autopsy report had found 23 injuries on Jespersen’s decapitated body and seven on that of Ueland.
Ejjoud had confessed to beheading one of the girls and Younes Ouaziyad, a 27-year-old carpenter, the other, while Rachid Afatti, 33, had videoed the murders on his mobile.
The defense team said it would call for the judge to take into account extenuating circumstance.
“We will appeal for mitigating circumstances on account of their precarious social conditions and psychological disequilibrium,” Hafida Mekessaou told AFP.
Khalid Elfataoui, representing Jespersen’s family, said she would read out a “devastating” letter received from the Danish woman’s family and demand compensation of over $1 million on their behalf.
The Norwegian woman’s family has declined to take part in the trial.
Jespersen’s lawyers have accused authorities of having failed to monitor the activities of some of the suspects before the two women camped in an isolated mountain area had their throats slit.
The brutal killings could have been spared had authorities heeded information on the behavior of street vendor Ejjoud, they said.
The alleged ringleader who had been convicted for trying to join Daesh in Syria was released early from prison in 2015 and went on to meet former inmates and other individuals without checks by authorities, attorney Khaled El Fataoui said.
He alleged police had been informed of the activities of the group of men from an underprivileged background but failed to act.
Lawyer Houssine Raji added the suspects met in Qur'anic schools run by cleric Mohamed Al-Maghraoui, which had been shut in 2010 under a court decision but ordered reopened in 2012 by the justice minister.
Investigators have said the “cell” was inspired by Daesh ideology, but Morocco’s anti-terror chief insisted the accused had no contact with the extremist group in conflict zones.
Trial nears end for 24 suspects in killing of Scandinavian hikers
Trial nears end for 24 suspects in killing of Scandinavian hikers
- Death penalty is on de facto freeze in Morocco since 1993
- All 24 defendants, except for three of them, said they support Daesh
Lebanese finance minister denies any plans for a Kushner-run economic zone in the south
- Proposal was made by US Envoy Morgan Ortagus but was ‘killed on the spot’
- Priority is to regain control of state in all aspects, Yassine Jaber tells Arab News
DAVOS: Lebanon’s finance minister dismissed any plans of turning Lebanon’s battered southern region into an economic zone, telling Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos that the proposal had died “on the spot.”
Yassine Jaber explained that US Envoy to Lebanon Morgan Ortagus had proposed the idea for the region, which has faced daily airstrikes by Israel, and it was immediately dismissed.
Jaber’s comments, made to Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, were in response to reports which appeared in Lebanese media in December which suggested that parts of southern Lebanon would be turned into an economic zone, managed by a plan proposed by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son in law.
Meanwhile, Jaber also dismissed information which had surfaced in Davos over the past two days of a bilateral meeting between Lebanese ministers, US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and Kushner.
Jaber said that the meeting on Tuesday was a gathering of “all Arab ministers of finance and foreign affairs, where they (Witkoff and Kushner) came in for a small while, and explained to the audience the idea about deciding the board of peace for Gaza.”
He stressed that it did not develop beyond that.
When asked about attracting investment and boosting the economy, Jaber said: “The reality now is that we need to reach the situation where there is stability that will allow the Lebanese army, so the (Israeli) aggression has to stop.”
Over the past few years, Lebanon has witnessed one catastrophe after another: one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns, the largest non-nuclear explosion in its capital’s port, a paralyzed parliament and a war with Israel.
A formal mechanism was put in place between Lebanon and Israel to maintain a ceasefire and the plan to disarm Hezbollah in areas below the Litani river.
But, the minister said, Israel’s next step is not always so predictable.
“They’re actually putting pressure on the whole region. So, a lot of effort is being put on that issue,” he added.
“There are still attacks in the south of the country also, so stability is a top necessity that will really succeed in pushing the economy forward and making the reforms beneficial,” he said.
Lawmakers had also enacted reforms to overhaul the banking sector, curb the cash economy and abolish bank secrecy, alongside a bank resolution framework.
Jaber also stressed that the government had recently passed a “gap law” intended to help depositors recover funds and restore the banking system’s functionality.
“One of the priorities we have is really to deal with all the losses of the war, basically reconstruction … and we have started to get loans for reconstructing the destroyed infrastructure in the attacked areas.”
As Hezbollah was battered during the war, Lebanon had a political breakthrough as the army’s general, Joseph Aoun, was inaugurated as president. His chosen prime minister was the former president of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam.
This year marks the first time a solid delegation from the country makes its way to Davos, with Salam being joined by Jaber, Economy and Trade Minister Amr Bisat, and Telecoms Minister Charles Al-Hage.
“Our priority is to really regain the role of the state in all aspects, and specifically in rebuilding the institutions,” Jaber said.
