Morocco court condemns three to death for killing Scandinavian 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-terrorist 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."