Posts by whrin_admin

Nepal: ‘Witchcraft’ victims face social boycott

Four families that were physically abused and socially stigmatised six months ago after facing allegations of witchcraft are still experiencing social, economic and political repercussions. Social indifference to their plight has traumatised the families, making it challenging to lead a decent life.

After facing a social boycott, the four families have been working together while having no mutual relations with the rest of the families in the village.

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Ghana: A ‘Witch’ Purification Ritual in Ghana

Witch purification is a ritual of confirming and cleansing an alleged witch. Alleged witches in Ghana’s Northern region are subjected to this process before they are allowed to settle in six of the seven witch camps. The ritual is performed by the Tindana. The Tindana are the earth priests or priestesses who oversee the ‘old ladies area’- as the witch camps are called in Dagbani language.

Traditionally, witchcraft is a capital offence. An alleged witch is killed by a lynch mob. The ‘official’ practice of witch killing stopped following the introduction of witch cleansing ritual and the establishment of witch camps.

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USA: Deal with devil prompted girl’s killing

Two teenage boys were hoping to make a deal with the devil when they sexually assaulted and killed a 15-year-old suburban Houston girl in a satanic ritual, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Seventeen-year-old Jose E. Reyes and a 16-year-old boy are accused of disfiguring the girl’s body, including carving an upside down crucifix on her stomach.

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Papua New Guinea: Witch burnings in Papua New Guinea

Witch burning, torture and sorcery are still common, where primitive beliefs and a local form of voodoo endure amid a gold boom, in a place where tribesman might have mobile phones, but still believe in black magic, called ‘sanguma’

According to a report by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, progress in New Guinea has actually brought an explosion in witch hunts, as a sinister culture has taken hold among dirt poor villagers living amid a resources plunder by mining companies.

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South Sudan: Ex-criminal: “God saved me from crime, murder and witchcraft”

Luduru Silas Aligo was sent by his family to Uganda to receive an education, but while he was there, he became a member of a gang.

His fellow gang members took him to the Democratic Republic of Congo to be introduced to witchcraft, which they said would aid him in carrying out his criminal activities. “While there, I was taken into the underworld to get special powers for killing people,” he said.

He said his new spiritual powers enabled him to open any lock and putting him in prison was a waste of time because he could open any lock and walk away.

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Belize: Witchcraft suspected after body stolen from tomb

An elderly woman’s body was exhumed in Belize last week and her grandson suspects someone might be selling her bones for black magic.

Felipa Sanchez died 20 years ago at the age of 87, and her remains were stolen Tuesday from her Orange Walk District tomb. A nearby resident reported hearing a loud bang around 3 a.m.

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India: Din in Chhattisgarh House Over Boy’s Abduction for Sacrifice

The opposition Congress today staged a walkout from the Chhattisgarh Assembly over abduction of a minor boy in Bemetera district, allegedly by workers of a construction firm for the purpose of “sacrifice”.

Soon after the proceedings of the day began, senior Congress member Bhupesh Baghel raised the issue seeking a discussion on it through an adjournment motion. Baghel said the workers of Malamohan Construction company, engaged in the construction of anicut (a dam made in a stream for maintaining and regulating irrigation) on Dotu river near Thankhamariya in the district, “kidnapped” Ankush Nirmalkar (8) yesterday morning for the purpose of “sacrificing” him. However, the boy escaped from his captors, he added.

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Ghana: Fall of the cedi is due to black magic

The National Women’s Organiser of the governing National Democratic Congress has blamed the steep depreciation of the cedi against the dollar and other major trading currencies to black magic or juju.

Anita Desooso, speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show of Monday February 10, 2014, said the activities of magicians, who conjure money as part of their stock in trade, have a direct effect on the cedi, which is witnessing unprecedented depreciation in recent times.

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India: Headless body of man found along with a rooster torso and head, human sacrifice suspected

The headless body of a man was found by the locals near Mangrul road this morning. The police were immediately informed, and later took the body for post-mortem. The body is yet to be identified.

Marks of a sharp object were found on the man’s neck. But what shocked the locals and the police was the recovery of a torso and head of a cock lying near the dead body of the man. This led the locals to suspect that the man’s death could have been a result of human sacrifice.

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Ghana: Woman confesses to being a witch for 45 years

A 63-year-old woman (name with held for now), claims that she is a witch and is looking for spiritual intervention to free her from the demons. She claims she has lived with witchcraft for 45 years. According to her, she has used her witchcraft over the years to ruin her family members, who have in turn rejected her.