Two held over murder of albino in Tanzania
A woman with her albino child before registering him at the office of the Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Two witch doctors in Tanzania have been arrested after a woman with albinism was hacked to death, police said. PHOTO/REUTERS
What you need to know:
- Albinos have suffered widespread persecution in Tanzania, where witch doctors say magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck.
GASUMA, Saturday
Two witch doctors in Tanzania have been arrested after a woman with albinism was hacked to death, police said. One of her legs and several fingers were removed in the attack on Tuesday.
Albinos have suffered widespread persecution in Tanzania, where witch doctors say magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck.
Such killings have declined in recent years, but this latest attack has prompted a human rights group to call for all witch doctors to be banned.
At a press conference, the group, Under the Same Sun, said the current regulation of witch doctors was clearly not working.
Currently, all witch doctors have to apply for a certificate from the ministry of health and welfare to practise.
The attack occurred in the village of Gasuma, in Simiyu province, a remote rural area in the northwest of the country where there have been killings of albinos before.
TWO PEOPLE ARRESTED
The woman’s left leg, two fingers from her left hand and a nail from one of the thumbs were removed.
According to Under the Same Sun, which campaigns against the discrimination of people living with albinism, the last killing of an albino in Tanzania was in February 2013.
Charles Mkumbo, police chief of the Simiyu region in northwestern Tanzania, said a man and a woman, Gudawa Yalema and Shiwa Masalu, had been arrested.
In Tanzania, albinos are killed and dismembered due to a widespread belief that charms made from their body parts bring good fortune and prosperity.
‘Witch doctors tell their clients that the skin, hair, blood and organs of persons with albinism when combined with their magic potions guarantee success, wealth and election victory,’ the group said in a statement.
