The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) condemns the destruction of houses and property of alleged witches in remote areas in Malawi. News from the country side says that some witch hunting villagers raided some communities today. According to local sources, an irate mob has demolished at least six apartments and other belongings of persons who have been suspected of witchcraft. Photos from a tweet show images of houses that the rampaging mob had pulled down. There have been no reported loss of lives. The fate of those who have been displaced by this mob violence is unknown.
Some of them are likely to end up living and dying on the streets. In the past three months, there have been reported cases of witch persecution and killing in districts across Malawi. In a particular case, villagers stoned an alleged witch to death at a local funeral. The alleged witch was accused of killing the relative though occult means. Such mindless killings and destructions are demonstrations of failure and inability of the government of Malawi its to protect citizens.
The authorities in Malawi must rise up to the challenge of guaranteeing the security of lives and property of alleged witches. Alleged witches are human beings, not criminals. Their rights are human rights.
Perpetrators of arson, assault and violence against suspected witches should be brought to justice. The government of Malawi must put in place proactive measures to stop and contain witch persecution and killing including mechanisms that can enable the police to preempt, prevent and nip in the bud mob violence against suspected witches. AfAW urges the authorities in Malawi to commence the process of educating and enlightenment the public.
The government should get all Malawians to know that witchcraft is a form of superstition, that has no basis in reason, science or in reality. Witchcraft is a myth, an imaginary crime which no one commits.
Leo Igwe (born July 26, 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe’s human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft. His human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria. Igwe has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry—Nigeria. In 2012, Igwe was appointed as a Research Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world. In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a “highly superstitious community,” according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.[1] At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary, beginning to study for the Catholic priesthood, but later was confused by conflicting beliefs between Christian theology and the beliefs in witches and wizards that are “entrenched in Nigerian society.”[1] After a period of research and internal conflict due to doubts about the “odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity he believes is stunting African development,” a 24-year-old Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan, Nigeria
