News

Nigeria: Life, Death and Witchcraft in the Niger Delta

“On the Far Side of the Fire,” an essay by Jessica Wilbanks.

“Helen Ukpabio wears wide-brimmed hats in jewel tones and pumps dyed to match, and in 2009 she was consecrated as an apostle of the Lord. She says that the people of Akwa Ibom are not being ravaged from without, by impersonal demons of political corruption, environmental devastation, and disease, but rather from within, by sin and demonic attacks. The problem here is not material, she says, but spiritual—she says that she should know. When Helen was fourteen she was initiated into the ways of witchcraft and was even betrothed to Lucifer himself. God delivered her (thanks be to His name), but she still sees the world through spiritual eyes. She can look at someone for just a moment and know if they are walking in the light of God or are plagued by spirits of poverty, infertility, and disease. My father, who worships the same God Helen worships, would call this the gift of discernment…”

Indonesia: Adultery, witchcraft land workers on death row

Despite government efforts to provide legal assistance to Indonesian criminal suspects overseas, as many as 236 Indonesian citizens face the death penalty in foreign countries, mostly on charges of drug trafficking, murder and adultery.

In Malaysia, most Indonesians on death row had been charged with drug offenses. Those facing the death sentence in Saudi Arabia — which accounted for 25 percent of the total — had been charged with murder, adultery and using black magic, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Read more here

India: Anti-Witch hunting crusader Birubala on new mission

Meet Birubala Rabha, who is almost single-handedly fighting against the social evils like witch hunting despite the threats of losing her life.

Since mid-1980s, the lady from Thakur Villa village, a remotest part in Goalpara district along the Assam-Meghalaya border, has been fighting to eradicate the superstition of killing innocent people in the name of witch-hunting.

Read an interview with her here

Peru: Woman accused of witchcraft beaten to death in La Libertad

A 68-year-old woman was beaten to death by a group of citizen patrol members (called “ronderos”) in the La Libertad region of Peru. The group reportedly killed her because they suspected that the woman was using black magic to kill her own son.

La Republica reports that the woman, Elesmira Zárate, was held by the ronderos for two days and forced to undergo punishment, including physical abuse and being forced to walk for substantial distances.

Read more here

South Africa: Life term for foetus muti killer

A 33-year-old man was jailed for life by the Free State High Court sitting in Ficksburg on Friday, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

Tebogo David Ramakatsa was found guilty of two counts of murder, two of robbery and one of sexual assault.

Read more here

Kenya: Using evil to catch evil: Villagers’ faith in ‘dark arts’ almost turns tragic

A village that is yet to recover from the shock of a massacre almost plunged itself into more tragedy. In a desperate attempt to exorcise the memories of the evil visited upon them months ago, residents of a village in Kitui County flirted with danger and came close to getting burned.

About seven months ago, a gang of bloodthirsty killers struck Nyanyaa village in the dead of the night. In the wake of the attack, 12 villagers were butchered in an incident that continues to haunt the residents of this sleepy hamlet. With no arrests made so far and fears of the case going cold growing by the day, the villagers resorted to unorthodox means to apprehend the perpetrators of the unnerving massacre.

Read more here

India: Toddler’s mutilated body hints human sacrifice

The family last saw two-and-a-half-year-old Afzal alive on Sunday morning before he went out to see the Republic Day flag hoisting ceremony near his house.

His 10-year-old sister Anam left his side to get the sweets. When she returned, Afzal was gone. Others told her that two middle-aged men had picked up the boy and disappeared.

Around 9.30am, a neighbour called on the family with news on Afzal whose body was found dumped near a garbage heap outside an under construction apartment less than 300 metres from the family’s rented house.

Read more here

Nigeria: Juju priest butchers man in Delta

A yet-to-be identified man was allegedly butchered over the weekend by a juju priest at the famous Effurun market.

It was gathered that the victim had gone to the market to purchase some food items, but unknown to him the priest and other worshippers were coming to the area.

The juju priest was said to have pounced on the innocent man with a machete, cutting him all over his body when he failed to runaway, as other people at the market had, once they had seen the juju priest arriving.

Read more here

India: Kumta astrologer, wife held for child-sacrifice bid

A childless couple from Uttara Kannada district’s Kumta taluk were arrested on Tuesday on charges of attempting to sacrifice a toddler and kill his parents.

Police said the arrested — astrologer Ganesh Bhat and wife Vinaya, from Baggon village — decided to perform a homa in their bid to beget a child. This involved sacrificing a child.

Read more here

Papua New Guinea: ‘The pain was so severe, my baby died’: Woman, 38, tells of how she was bound with barbed wire and tortured with hot irons by Papua New Guinea’s ‘witch hunters’

With just two months to go before the birth of her seventh child, Kathy, 38, from Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea, was looking forward to welcoming her new baby into the world.

But tragically, the moment would never arrive. Instead, after a harrowing two day ordeal which saw her repeatedly beaten and raped with an iron bar, Kathy’s baby was dead.

Why? Because her family and neighbours believed – wrongly – that she was a witch.