A tribal family has been living in fear away from home after the members were branded witches by a kangaroo court.
Though the Malda administration knows about their plight, no move has yet been taken to help them return to their house in Raylapara village under Malda police station.
Read more here
Laxmidevi Dhami of Haripur has allegedly been assaulted “for practising witchcraft and killing her sister-in-law Mantoriyadevi”.
According to Laxmidevi, local people led by her brothers-in-law brought the body of Mantoriyadevi at her house on Sunday night and assaulted her asking her to bring Mantoriyadevi back to life by undoing the spell.
Read more here
Before I went to Ghana I had no idea there were witches there. For me, witchcraft accusations were of historical interest, not a contemporary concern. How wrong I was.
Witchcraft accusations are very real. And very destructive.
I am not alone in my ignorance. Most of the people I’ve talked to about my experience visiting Kukuo—one of several camps for alleged witches in northern Ghana—reacted just about the same way as I did: “There are still witchcraft accusations? That many? In the 21st century? Accusations that are taken seriously?”
Read more of this blog here
A former witchcraft practitioner has urged Ugandans to stop practicing witchcraft and turning to shrines for “miracles”, saying that the so-called practitioners only fleece them of their hard-earned money.
Paul Jjemba who practiced witchcraft in South Africa addressed hundreds of Christians at Sacred Heart of Mary Cathedral at Lubaga on Sunday. While speaking to the worshippers, Jjemba spoke of ways in which so-called witchdoctors defraud unsuspecting people of their money.
Read more here
Human sacrifice is usually viewed as a sadistic and inhumane practice of superstitious ancient cultures. Most of us are sure that it was eradicated over the centuries and is now completely extinct. Sadly, that’s not exactly true. Cases of human sacrifice occasionally pop up even today. Although not en masse, many people are still being butchered to appease spiritual entities and extract favors from the supernatural.
Read more here
Unfortunately, Yemen is still considered traditional and primitive. Magic and sorcery spread widely as people consider it to be a part of cultural and intellectual heritage. It is also an accessible way for excluded people to attempt to solve their problems.
This is particularly true for Yemeni women. They are deprived of opportunities in education, and face a huge amount of systemic injustice and violence. As a result, Yemeni women have a great deal of faith in these practices.
Read more here
When we hear the term “witch hunt” today, we typically consider it a metaphor for things like steroid investigations and congressional inquiries. It’s not as if people still hunt down “real” witches the way they did in fiascos like America’s notorious Salem Witch Trials. Or do they? Real witch hunts do, in fact, still happen around the world, and they are shockingly on the rise. Here are some hot spots for these human rights violations.
Read more about the five countries here
A former Topeka man will be tried for the 2011 killing of another man whose head was severed in what witnesses described as a voodoo ritual.
29-year-old James Paul Harris is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Topeka resident James Gerety, who was reported missing in March 2011.
Read more here
Women have been executed as witches for centuries, and they still are today in some parts of the world. From Europe to Africa to the Americas, major witch hunts have a surprising catalyst in common: cold weather. Witches have long been thought to control the weather, and it’s been put forth that prolonged cold spells, along with the corresponding illness and crop failure, are major catalysts that have made people turn to the idea of witchcraft
Read more here
