Among those who received charges for sharing the gruesome video are six teenagers, one as young as 13 years old.
Rabat – Danish police have charged 14 people for sharing a video that purportedly shows the killing of one of the murdered Scandinavian tourists near Imlil, a popular tourism destination in the Atlas Mountains near Mount Toubkal in Morocco.
Six teenagers, at least one as young as 13, and eight adults received charges for sharing the graphic footage on Facebook Messenger or other social media.
Danish television channel TV2 reported that the suspects range between the ages of 13 to 69.
According to Danish law, sharing such videos is illegal and is “offensive to both victims and relatives.”
The television channel also called on people to not to watch or share the video.
“It is important to talk to our children and young people about what offensive films and images are and that they must be deleted and never shared,” said the head of the police’s National Prevention Center, Tenna Wilbert.
In January, Danish public prosecutor Kirsten Dyrman complained that many people in Denmark were sharing the video.
Dyrman also warned that sharing the video may be a punishable offence.
The Norwegian government also urged people not to download and share the graphic footage.
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Moroccan authorities found the bodies of the Scandinavian tourists, Maren Ueland from Norway and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen from Denmark, on December 17 near Imlil.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that people should “support” the victims relatives by abstaining from spreading the video.
She added that people have even posted the video on her own Facebook page.
Norway’s Kripos police said in a statement that they conducted their own investigation into the murders.
“Kripos has a desiree to give … as many answers as possible about what happened and has collaborated and exchanged information with the Danish police. Work is still ongoing,” the statement added.
Norway’s police also worked to prevent further spreading of the video.
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“We have contacted service providers to get the film removed. In some cases, we have also been in direct contact with individuals or administrators.”
The police said that the movie “cannot be completely removed from the internet, but we have wanted to limit the scope as much as possible.”
Police also warned that watching the footage could affect people who see it, especially children and young people.
Kripos noted that Norway has not charged any individual for sharing the video because Norwegian law differs from Danish law.
“However, the sharing of the video according to the circumstances can also implicate Norwegian penal provisions, which will have to be considered specifically in each case.
In December, Norwegian police said they had no reason not to believe that the video, which depicted a decapitation, was not of the murders.
Morocco’s security services arrested 23 suspects in connection to the murder. All of the suspects have appeared before the investigating judge, but the trials are still ongoing.
