The Beheaded Female Students

A horrific execution of two innocent Scandinavian female students took place in mid-December 2018 in the Atlas Mountains. On December 8, 24-year-old Danish student Luisa Vestrager Jespersen and her 28-year-old Norwegian classmate Maren Ueland had arrived in Morocco to explore the country as backpackers. Both were avid hikers who had set up their tents in Toubkal National Park, not far from the town of Imlil. This was a popular starting point for hikes up Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains. The two friends had prepared thoroughly for the trip, determined to celebrate Christmas together in Morocco. But the journey turned out to be a nightmare that ended fatally for both of them. Three men, who were camping just 30 meters away from the two women, literally slaughtered them. They dragged the two women out of their tents and then beheaded them with a long knife. The gruesome execution was filmed on a cell phone. After the murder, the perpetrators pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the jihadist militia Islamic State, in a video. In another video, they showed the beheading of one of the two victims, referring to her as one of the “heads of God’s enemies.” The bodies of the two beheaded women were found in the town of Imlil, 10 kilometers away. The brutal execution sent shockwaves throughout the entire country. Many Moroccans held vigils for the two innocent female students who were killed. The horrific act was carried out in revenge for the recent deaths of IS brothers in Hajine, Syria—an IS stronghold that had been bombed. The Islamist-motivated murder sparked horror around the world. The three main perpetrators were 25-year-old Eijoud Abdessamad, 27-year-old Younes Ouziad, and 33-year-old Rachid Afatti. A total of 24 men were brought before the court in the Moroccan city of Salé on charges of murder, illegal possession of weapons, and forming a terrorist group. The terrorist group consisted of Islamic clerics, former convicts, and a Swiss convert of Spanish descent who had maintained contact with ISIS in Syria via coded messages. However, ISIS never claimed responsibility for the brutal beheading of the two Scandinavian female students. The accomplices of the three main defendants received prison sentences ranging from 5 to 30 years. The three main defendants themselves, who expressed remorse for their actions, were sentenced to death. Although the death penalty is imposed in Morocco, it is generally not carried out.