A Moroccan in prison for murdering European hikers commits suicide

On Feb 28, 2023

Two Norwegian tourists were beheaded by a Moroccan man who was found guilty of involvement with an Islamic State-affiliated network and given the death penalty. According to Moroccan officials, the Moroccan committed suicide in jail.

In a statement, the institution in the eastern city of Oujda where he was being detained said that workers there discovered he committed suicide early on Tuesday.

The inmate was among ring members convicted and sentenced to prison in 2019 for the brutal murders of two young Scandinavian women, Louisa Vesterager Jespersen from Denmark and Maren Ueland from Norway. In the Atlas Mountains around Marrakech, they perished in December 2018 while hiking.

The murders were caught on camera and uploaded online. They shook Morocco to its heart and sparked worries about the rising threat of islamist extremism in the region and beyond.

Three individuals were found guilty of terrorism and handed the death penalty by a Moroccan court. A fourth suspect who left the scene was given a life term in jail. Also, the court sentenced 19 accomplices who had been found guilty to prison.