The court also sentenced a fourth suspect to death.
Rabat – The Criminal Chamber at Salé’s Court of Appeal upheld on Wednesday, October 31, the death sentence for the three main defendants in the Imlil murder case.
The court of the first instance sentenced the three men to death for the murder of two Scandinavian tourists in the town of Imlil (El Haouz Province) on July 18, 2019.
Despite calls from the defense for psychiatric tests, the Court upheld the death sentences on Rachid Afatti, Younes Ouziad, and Abdessamad Eljoud.
The court additionally sentenced Abderrahmane Khiyali’s life imprisonment pronounced in the first instance to the death sentence.
Read also: Defense Lawyers in Imlil Murder Case Call for Psychiatric Tests
The Court also upheld the prison terms ranging from 5 to 30 years for the other defendants and increased Abdesslam Idrissi’s jail term from 15 to 20 years.
The case started in December 2018, when Moroccan police found the bodies of two Scandinavian women, Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland, in Imlil, near Mount Toubkal.
The charges against the defendants include the creation of a criminal organization, the preparation, and undertaking of terrorist acts, premeditated murder, possession of firearms, attempting to make illegal explosives, and threats to national security.
The Moroccan police arrested 24 individuals implicated in the murder of the two Scandinavian tourists in Imlil in December 2018. The court gave sentences having considered evidence on each suspect’s involvement in the crime.