def markdown_table_to_json(markdown):
    lines = markdown.strip().split("\n")
    
    # Extract headers
    headers = [h.strip() for h in lines[0].split("|") if h.strip()]
    
    # Extract rows
    rows = []
    for line in lines[2:]:  # Skip header and separator line
        values = [v.strip() for v in line.split("|") if v.strip()]
        row_dict = dict(zip(headers, values))
        rows.append(row_dict)
    
    return rows