The period of witch killings in Europe became known as “The Burning Times.” Religioustolerance.org says the most frequently quoted estimates are between 50,000 and 100,000 victims, with about a quarter of them being male. Many were hanged, some drowned, and others killed with extreme cruelty.
Burning alive was favoured in some areas with the executioners following the instructions of Saint Augustine (354-430). He said “that Pagans, Jews, and heretics would burn forever in eternal fire with the Devil unless saved by the Catholic Church.”
Of course, none of victims were guilty of a capital crime as it would be defined it today.
Witch Burning in Kenya
BBC News correspondent Odhiambo Joseph has reported witnessing “witch” executions in the Kisii district of Kenya in East Africa. His story “Horror of Kenya’s ‘Witch’ Lynchings” was posted on the BBC website on June 26, 2009.
“I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
“As a stranger I felt I had no choice but to stand by and watch. My fear was that if I showed any sign of disapproval, or made any false move, the angry mob could turn on me. Not one person was protesting or trying to stop the killing.”
Local youths told Joseph “that a child had spent the night walking around and then was unable to talk the following morning - except to one of the so-called witches.” They took this behaviour to be proof that the black arts of witchcraft had been practiced on the child.
Correspondent Joseph reported he later found out the boy was epileptic.
Killing Witches a Frequent Occurrence in Kisii District
In May 2008, 11 elderly people suspected of being witches were burned to death in Kisii district.
According to a BBC News report (May 29, 2008) villagers claimed they had proof that witchcraft was going on. “They say they found an exercise book at a local primary school that contained the minutes of a ‘witches’ meeting’ which detailed who was going to be bewitched next.”
Lynchings Happen Outside Africa
Saeed Ahmed reported on CNN (January 8, 2009) that, “A woman in rural Papua New Guinea was bound and gagged, tied to a log, and set ablaze on a pile of tires this week, possibly because villagers suspected her of being a witch…”
Amnesty International Australia says this atrocity is not an isolated incident: “In the remote communities and highlands provinces of Papua New Guinea, ‘puri puri’ – the traditional belief of sorcery – is being rampantly used as a pretext for brutal acts of violence against women. More than 50 reported cases of sorcery-related deaths occurred in 2008 alone, and local authorities believe that many more instances of murder have gone unreported.”
According to the human rights organization “women are six times more likely to be accused of sorcery than men.”
 |
