32 people have been charged by a court in Tanzania for killing five women they suspected to be operating with Witchcraft, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The men who have been charged with killing beat up the women to death, and burnt their corpses.
A local resident told Reuters Foundation that “I am happy to see that authorities are taking appropriate actions to prevent violent crimes against innocent women,”
The decision of the Tanzanian court is seen by many as a major move to deal with the menace of constant lynching of elderly women accused of witchcraft.
Hundreds of suspected witches are murdered in the east African country each year, with suspects getting away without prosecution.
It is usually difficult for the police to prosecute such offenders due to challenges in identifying those responsible for the attacks.
According to the Tanzania’s Legal and Human Rights Centre, almost 500 people have been killed by mob justice in the first six months of 2017, many of them women accused of witchcraft.
The practice of lynching elderly women suspected of witchcraft is common in most African countries
Source: Africafeeds.com
