A MALAWIAN rights group has called on the country’s president Bingu wa Mutharika to order the release of 80 predominately elderly women from prison who have been jailed for up to six years for practising witchcraft.
The Association of Secular Humanism (Ash) says the recent conviction of 61 elderly women, seven elderly men and 12 younger relatives by the local courts are illegal, as witchcraft is not recognised as a criminal offence under Malawian law.
Ash representative George Thindwa said that although witchcraft was not recognised by the statute books, various magistrates’ courts were refusing to abide by the law and throw the cases out. He said this was because some members of the judiciary are prone to believing in sorcery.
Most of the women that have appeared before the courts on charges relating to witchcraft were sentenced to between three and six years’ imprisonment with hard labour. According to Ash all the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“We want to secure the release of some 80 prisoners labelled as witches,” he told local reporters earlier this week. “We want to take up their causes with authorities and if legal action fails, we want to petition for their pardon and release. They are 100 per cent innocent.”
Mr Thindwa went on to say that some of the charges related to the accused teaching witchcraft to children. He added the defendants were given little or no support by the courts during their trials as they were seen as outcasts of society. He appealed to the chief justice and inspector general of police to inform their staff that witchcraft cases “should not be entertained”.
“The problem is that our police and our courts; most of them are witchcraft believers. This belief is very strong in Malawi,” he said.
Malawi is a deeply religious and conservative country in many respects, so a genuine fear of witchcraft is not uncommon.
Earlier this year, the courts jailed two gay men for 14 years after they were convicted of buggery and indecent practices. After widespread international condemnation the men were eventually pardoned by the president.
This fear of witchcraft has led the government to recently establish a committee to look into making it a criminal offence.
Mr Thindwa said he was trying to raise €30,000 to pay for the women’s appeals process in the event the president refused to order the release of the accused.