Secular Café: Persecution of those thought to be witches

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Persecution of those thought to be witches Apr 11th 2013, 08:23 Europe and the USA do of course have bad records on this, but belief in witchcraft has dwindled almost to nothing in the developed world and now occurs there mainly among a few immigrants from other areas. But in some parts of the world this is still a live problem. Leo Igwe is a courageous Nigerian Humanist and campaigner for human rights who has long fought those who make a career of being witch-fighters. Belief in witchcraft and the persecution of supposed witches is widespread in Africa, but here Leo is focusing on Papua New Guinea. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/...community.html Quote: two women have reportedly been beheaded in Papua New Guinea. Earlier this year the gruesome murder of a 20-year-old woman, Kepari Leniata, who was accused of sorcery, attracted international outrage and condemnation. According to the report, the two women were tortured before they were beheaded. As in the case of Leniata, local police officers were present but could not stop the angry mob from killing the alleged sorcerers. A local police inspector, Herman Birengka, said they were helpless and could not do anything while condemning the killing as 'barbaric and senseless'. According to him, "The two women were rounded up and taken to Lopele village after they were suspected of practicing sorcery and blamed for the death of the former teacher, who was from Lopele village. They were tortured for three days, suffering knife and axe wounds, before being beheaded in front of the police who had been sent to the village to mediate.' The beheading of the two women happened days after six women accused of sorcery were tortured with hot irons in an Easter "sacrifice" in the Southern Highlands in the country. Like many countries in Africa, witch hunting plagues Papua New Guinea. And international community needs to help this nation combat this social disease. International condemnation by the UN, Amnesty International and other human rights groups is not enough. The world must do more to end this cultural scourge. Papua New Guinea needs international assistance in terms of public education, reorientation and law enforcement. In Papua New Guinea, there is a pervasive notion that sorcery is a crime, and that some people can kill others through sorcery or malevolent magic. The local population believes strongly that there must be a malevolent occult power behind any incident of misfortune like death or disease. And people try to 'smell out' the 'sorcerers within' whenever tragedy strikes. Any suspected witch or sorcerer evokes fear and anger. He or she is not perceived as an ordinary human being, but as a criminal and an enemy of the society who deserves no mercy or compassion. I fear that as long as mainstream churches continue to carry out exorcisms, it will be very difficult to educate people out of belief in witchcraft.

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