A Moroccan man imprisoned for belonging to an affiliate of the extremist group Islamic State and sentenced to death for beheading two Scandinavian tourists has committed suicide in prison, Moroccan authorities announced on Tuesday.
Authorities at the prison where the accused was held in the city of Oujda said in a statement that they had found his body on Tuesday morning.
The prisoner was one of several members of the extremist group jailed in 2019 for the deaths of Danish Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Norwegian Maren Ueland, killed in December 2018 while crossing the Atlas Mountains near the town from Marrakesh.
The murders were recorded on video and shared on the Internet. They caused shock in Morocco and concern about Islamic extremism in North Africa and beyond.
A Moroccan court found three men guilty of terrorism and sentenced them to death, while a fourth suspect who fled the scene was sentenced to life in prison. The court also handed down prison sentences for 19 other people considered to be accomplices.