Tanzania bans witchdoctors over albino attacks

tay

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Tanzania has banned witchdoctors in a move intended to stop attacks on people with albinism.


Home Affairs Minister Mathias Chikawe said there would be a nationwide operation to "arrest them and take them to court" if they continued to work.


Albino people, who lack pigment in their skin, have faced attacks for their body parts, which witchdoctors believe bring good luck and wealth.


The Tanzanian Albinism Society (TAS) has welcomed the ban.


"If we and the government come together and show strength as one and speak as one, we can deal with the problem head-on," the society's chairman, Ernest Njamakimaya, said.


"I believe this way we can get rid of these incidents once and for all."




More than 33,000 people in Tanzania are believed to have albinism.


Seventy have been killed in the past three years but only 10 people have been convicted of murder.




BBC News - Tanzania bans witchdoctors over albino attacks
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Clearly another example of the evil imperialist capitalist hypocritical West imposing its cruel and hypocritical morality on the spiritually superior innocent natives.
 

MHz

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Nice of you to acknowledge where we are and whom all is assembled, if anyplace in the innerweb is void of adults here it is.
 

tay

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A court in Tanzania has sentenced four people to death for the murder of an albino woman who was killed so her hacked-off limbs could be used in magic, officials said Friday.







The sentencing comes after Tanzania' President Jakaya Kikwete blasted the wave of killings of albinos, whose body parts are used for witchcraft, as a "disgusting and big embarrassment for the nation".


The killers who were convicted include Charles Nassoro, the husband of the murdered woman. Court officials in Mwanza, northwest Tanzania, said the victim had her legs and right hand hacked off with an axe and machete after being attacked while eating dinner in her village.


"The prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt," High Court judge Joaquine Demello told state radio after Thursday's verdict.


She also told the Citizen newspaper the sentence had also taken into account "the escalating killing of people with albinism in the country".


According to a UN expert, attacks on people with albinism have claimed the lives of at least 75 people since 2000, and that albino body parts sell for around $600, with an entire corpse fetching $75,000.


Despite the handing down of the death penalty, Tanzania has had a de facto moratorium on capital punishment and carried out its last execution, by hanging, in 1994. There are currently 17 people on death row in the country for killing albinos.
Earlier this week Tanzania's president met with albino rights activists, promising firm action to stop the murders.


"The government has long tried to do everything possible to stop the killings, we are very serious with this. But we still need to enhance our efforts to bring to an end these killings, which are disgusting and a big embarrassment to the nation," Kikwete said in a statement.


Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. It affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a result of inbreeding, experts say. In the West, it affects just one person in 20,000.




https://news.yahoo.com/albino-killers-sentenced-death-tanzania-151913213.html








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Sal

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ew, more mentally unbalanced evil little f*ckers

so apparently the ban isn't working, there's a shock eh?

Human meat is delicious
:p they mean chewing not just sucking...:violent1:

I was going to add something about swallowing but the danger zone alert went on in my brain...lol
 

tay

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Tanzania albino murders: 'More than 200 witchdoctors' arrested






The killings have been driven by the belief - advanced by some witchdoctors - that the body parts have properties that confer wealth and good luck.


President Jakaya Kikwete has described the murder of albino people as an "evil" that has shamed Tanzania.


Nearly 80 albino Tanzanians have been killed since 2000, the UN says.


The latest victims include a one-year-old albino boy, killed in north-western Tanzania a few weeks ago.


The government banned witchdoctors in January as part of its efforts to prevent further attacks and kidnappings targeting people with albinism.


Last week, 32 witchdoctors were detained.


According to the Red Cross, witchdoctors are prepared to pay $75,000 (£50,000) for a complete set of albino body parts.


Tanzanian police arrested 225 unlicensed traditional healers and soothsayers across the country, the AFP news agency reports.


"Some of those arrested were found in possession of items like lizard skin, warthog teeth, ostrich eggs, monkey tails, bird claws, mule tails and lion skin," police spokesperson Advera Bulimba told the agency.


Albinism is particularly prevalent in Tanzania with one in 1,400 affected, according to a 2006 BMC Public Health report. This compares with one in 20,000 in Western countries.




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BBC News - Tanzania albino murders: 'More than 200 witchdoctors' arrested
 

tay

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Cops in Malawi ordered to shoot anyone attacking albinos








Earlier this week, Malawi's inspector general of police ordered his officers to shoot on sight anyone found attacking local albinos, a group increasingly targeted by people who believe their limbs make potent ingredients in good luck charms produced by local traditional healers .


"Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism," Reutersquoted the inspector as saying. "We cannot just watch while our friends with albinism are being killed like animals every day. We do not realize that these people are ruthless, have no mercy and therefore they need to be treated just like that."


"We are hunted like animals," Boniface Massah, the president of the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi, told News24 while talking about the forces driving his people into hiding. "You are no longer sure you can trust even friends or relatives."

The shoot-on-sight order is just the latest in a string of recent attempts to counteract the anti-albino spree in the nation. In early March , the Federation of Disability Association called for stronger legislation to protect the nation's albinos.


By mid-March police in Machinga claimed they'd started to clamp down, arresting 14 attack suspects. And toward the end of the month , President Peter Mutharika openly condemned such attacks, calling on security forces to go on high alert, while Minister of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social Work Patricia Kaliati developed a five-point plan for greater education on albinism, community policing, and research into the root causes of the troubling medicinal trade in albino body parts.




The belief in the medicinal-spiritual power of albinos is strongest in Tanzania , where advocacy groups have recorded dozens of killings and dozens more mutilations and attempted attacks over the last 15 years.


Tanzania's anti-albino killings were brought into the media spotlight most recently after the February slaying of a one-year-old albino by an assailant who struck the child's mother with a machete before dismembering the infant. Because these potions remain costly, and Tanzania remains overwhelmingly poor, many tie this increasing demand to local businessmen and politicians . That may help to explain why, for so long, these attacks were under-prosecuted (like in Malawi).




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Cops in Malawi Can Shoot Anyone Attacking Albinos Now | VICE | United States
 

tay

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People living with albinism in Malawi are at risk of being abducted or killed in murders associated with witchcraft. There have already been 6 reported killings in 2016 – both adults and children.

Albinism is a rare,non-contagious, genetic condition present at birth that results in absence of pigmentation in the eyes, skin and hair. It is estimated that between 7000-10000 people live with albinism in Malawi.

Erroneous beliefs and superstitions have put the safety and lives of people with albinism at risk, including from killings, abductions, and mutilations. Societal attitudes about albinism are not changing, and people with albinism continue to be at risk of attacks with some children being abducted and sold by family members.

Two-year-old Whitney was abducted from her bed while she was sleeping in April. Baby Whitney’s skull, teeth and clothes were later discovered in a neighbouring village. Her brutal murder follows that of 9-year-old Harry, snatched from his home in February and found beheaded soon after.

Even after death, the bodies of people with albinism are subjected to grave robberies. Their bones are stolen and sold for use in witchcraft rituals.

The few perpetrators who have been arrested in the past have either been acquitted or given lighter sentences.

There is an urgent need to address these issues. The president of Malawi has expressed concern and support for efforts to improve the lives of people with albinism, but this has not been followed by action.

People with albinism are paying for political and social inaction with their lives. This is a matter of life and death.

We’re calling on the president of Malawi to protect people with albinism from attacks and bring the perpetrators of albinism-related crimes to justice.

Dear President Peter Mutharika,


Thousands of people with albinism live in constant fear of being abducted or killed in Malawi, where their body parts are being sold for use in ritual purposes. Ritual killings of people with albinism are influenced by superstitions and myths that their bones or body parts can bring riches.

We, the undersigned, call on you to:

  • Offer effective protections for people with albinism. Protect their right to life and right to personal security, in accordance with Malawi’s international human rights obligations and commitments.
  • Resource the police to adequately investigate crimes related to albinism
  • Bring to justice the perpetrators of albinism-related crimes
  • Tackle the harmful superstitious beliefs perpetrating the targeting of people with albinism

    https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/stop-albinism-killings-in-malawi/