Josephine Namanda sits in front of her rented single-roomed house in Kirwanira, Matugga, Wakiso District, still grieving over Rose Babirye, her twin child, who was sacrificed three years ago. Read more here.
Delta State police command has nabbed a hunter identified as Omenogor (Surname withheld) in Ishiagu, Ndokwa West local government area of the state, for allegedly killing his wife and two children over allegation of witchcraft. Read more here.
Police in Kasungu are still searching for Landani who is said to have torched his 65-year-old mother and burned her to death because he believed that she killed his sister by using witchcraft. Crimes like this have plagued the area lately and don’t seem to be declining. Read more here.
A customary belief in parts of the Northern Region that a nursing mother who is considered a witch cannot touch her child is preventing Salamatu Abdulai from breast feeding and touching her newly-born baby boy. Read more here.
In just about every suburb of Nairobi, you’ll find at least one ad, hand-painted, on a little plate, nailed high up on a pole. For an average of around 6000 shillings (R600) you can get to see one of these mgangas but it is advisable to avoid those who advertise on paper. They are reputed to be con artists. Read more here.
Founder of the Albino Foundation in Nigeria, Mr Jake Epelle has condemned the alleged killing of albinos in some parts of the country for ritual purposes. Read more here.
A woman has lodged a complaint with police, saying that she was thrashed by her relatives on the charge of practising witchcraft . Read more here.
Papua New Guinea is to repeal its controversial sorcery law and treat black magic killings as murder, it has been announced. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said there would be a renewed push for the death penalty, and life sentences for rape, saying that “draconian” penalties were needed to tackle spiralling violent crime. Read more here.
Women’s rights advocate and former schoolteacher Helen Rumbali, her sister Nikono, and Nikono’s two teenage daughters were held captive and tortured with knives and axes for three days before the mob beheaded Helen and seriously injured Nikono. Finally, after another fortnight of tense hostage negotiations with members of the local community, police managed to secure the release of the remaining three captives on Monday. Over the past few years, incidents like these have become common in Papua New Guinea. Late last month, six women accused of sorcery were tortured with hot irons as part of an Easter “sacrifice” in a village in the Southern Highlands. Yet despite the growing problem, sorcery-related violence often goes unreported. Read more here.
With sorcery-related killings in Papua New Guinea making news around the world, photographer and recent Amnesty International Media Awards nominee Vlad Sokhin finds the heroes behind the headlines. See here.
