Chief Nkole Mfumu is a traditional leader in the rural area of Kasama and he has asked the government of Zambia to make changes to the Witchcraft Act on June 13, 2013. His plea went out to Northern Province Minister Obius Chisala while he was at his palace in the region. At this time it’s not known if the Northern Province Minister will present the Chief’s requests or act on them. Read more here.
A 40-year-old woman has allegedly been thrashed by half-a-dozen villagers, including family members of former state minister for irrigation Ramani Devi Ram, accusing her of practising witchcraft. Read more here.
Police in the eastern state of Jharkhand said a group of mainly female assailants beat the pair to death, after earlier deciding that they were responsible, through their alleged witchcraft, for the recent deaths of several children from illness. Read more here.
About ninety percent of residents of witches camps across the country are people above the age of 60. The issue of witchcraft accusations is very common in Ghana and is mostly targeted at poor, illiterate and weak older people especially women who are sometimes widowed. Read more here.
Following worldwide outrage over a spate of brutal sorcery-related murders in Papua New Guinea, the government has rolled out a new hard-line approach to spiralling crime in this southwest Pacific island state. Repeal of the much-criticised 1971 Sorcery Act means that sorcery-related killings will now qualify as murders and will be punishable by the reinstated death penalty. Read more here.
GANZE MP Peter Shehe has raised concern over the rising cases of insecurity in the constituency and asked residents to report cases of violence to police. Speaking in Kilifi, Shehe condemned the killing of witchcraft suspects and called for tolerance among residents. A church elder was on Friday night killed at Palakumi while a young man was stabbed to death by his uncle in Nzovuni. Read more here.
Elijah Rufus was 10 years old when a spiritual healer in the Liberian capital Monrovia doused him with chicken’s blood and declared that his frequent convulsions were the result of demonic possession. A doctor could have told the scared young boy he had epilepsy, but instead he was subjected to years of spiritual healing, prolonged prayer sessions and fasting as his health declined. Read more here.
Superintendent of Police Rakesh Bansal said a group of women at Karonda Jore Dipatoli caught 70-year-old Brijnia Indwar and her 42-year-old daughter-in-law Ignesia Indwar, and beat them to death last night on the suspicion of practising witchcraft. Read more here.
Ronke Phillips travelled to the Congo with African Religion expert Dr Richard Hoskins, to investigate the origins of the belief system which cost Kristy his life and its connection to London. Read more here.
In April, an elderly school teacher was beheaded in Papua New Guinea after her neighbors accused her of witchcraft. A few days earlier, seven people were kidnapped and tortured with hot irons over suspicions of sorcery in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands province. Read more here.
