Morocco condemns three to death for killing hikers

Three Islamic State group supporters were sentenced to death by a court in Morocco on Thursday over the beheadings of two Scandinavian women on a hiking trip in the High Atlas Mountains.

The defendants had asked God for forgiveness during their final statements at a packed courtroom in Sale, near the capital Rabat, following an 11-week trial of 24 suspects.

His expressionless face framed by a beard and a traditional kufi cap, alleged ringleader Abdessamad Ejjoud appealed to God to 'forgive' him. The 25-year-old street vendor and underground imam has confessed to orchestrating the attack with two other radicalised Moroccans last December.

He and two others admitted to killing 24-year-old Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland in murders that shocked the North African country.

Prosecutors and social media users had called for the death penalty for all three, despite Morocco having a de facto freeze on executions since 1993.

Younes Ouaziyad, a 27-year-old carpenter who admitted to beheading one of the tourists, also asked for 'God's forgiveness'. Third alleged assailant 33-year-old Rachid Afatti had admitted to filming the grisly murders on his mobile phone. The three remained impassive as the sentence was read out.

Journalists had gathered outside the anti-terrorism court ahead of the ruling. "We expect sentences that match the cruelty of the crime," lawyer Khaled El Fataoui, speaking for Jespersen's family, told AFP.

Helle Petersen, her mother, in a letter read out in court last week, said, "The most just thing would be to give these beasts the death penalty they deserve."

Ueland's family had declined to take part in the trial.

All three of the men sentenced to death plan to lodge appeals Friday against the 'severe' sentences, defence lawyer Hafida Mekessaoui said.

The prosecution has called for jail terms of between 15 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 only non-Moroccan in the group, Guervos was accused of having taught the main suspects how to use an encrypted messaging service and to use weapons.

His lawyer, Saad Sahli, said Guervos had cut all ties with the other suspects "once he knew they had extremist ideas" more than 18 months ago.

"This verdict is cruel and unacceptable, we will appeal," Sahli said, adding that the judges had failed to take into account "proof of his innocence".

All but three of those on trial had said they were supporters of the Islamic State group, according to the prosecution, although IS itself has never claimed responsibility for the murders.

The three killers of the women 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 at a previous hearing to beheading one of the women and Ouaziyad the other while Afatti filmed.

The defence team argued there were "mitigating circumstances on account of their precarious social conditions and psychological disequilibrium".

Coming from modest backgrounds, with a 'very low' level of education, the defendants lived for the most part in low-income areas of Marrakesh.

The court however ordered the three to pay 2 million dirhams (USD 200,000) in compensation to Ueland's parents.

Jespersen's lawyers have accused authorities of failing to monitor the activities of some of the suspects before the murders, and said they would appeal the ruling.

"The most important thing for us is not money, it's condemning the guilty parties," family lawyer El Fataoui said.

But the court rejected the Jespersen family's request for 10 million dirhams in compensation from the Moroccan state for its 'moral responsibility'.