Early this year, the office of the National Human Rights Commission in Bornu drew the attention of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches to the case of Maryam (not the real name), who was accused of witchcraft. Maryam is 65 years old and a single mother. Her in-laws accused her of magically causing the death of another family member. They attacked and beat her, and she sustained some injuries. Bornu is one of the sharia implementing states in Nigeria. And some Muslims take their cases to sharia courts for adjudication. Maryam took the matter to the court because her accusers threatened to murder her. “We will kill you, and nothing will happen”. They reportedly told her.
The sharia court ruled that she should swear by the Quran that she was not responsible for the alleged harm. They agreed that if she performed the oath she could live freely in the community. But the sharia court decision did not go down well with her accusers. Their lawyers rejected the ruling of the Sharia court and appealed the judgment. The National Human Rights coordinator is trying to engage a lawyer who could defend Maryam. She contacted the AfAW.
Maryam does not have a job and does not make some significant income. She is unable to hire a lawyer. In her message to AfAW, the human rights officer said “According to them(Maryam and her supporters) they do not have some money to hire a lawyer, the person who was handling it abandoned the case because they could not afford to pay him”. The AfAW is exploring ways to support the NHRC office in Bornu to ensure that Maryam hires a lawyer. Victims of witch persecution are usually poor people like Maryam who cannot afford to pay the police to intervene in their cases or to hire a lawyer to defend them. Confronted with such situations many resign to their fate. They stay back in the community where they risk being attacked or murdered by their accusers. Or they flee their communities and take refuge in cities. But more often, they go to neighboring villages and communities. In many cases, the stigma follows them to these places, and other family and community members also reject and refuse to accommodate them. So, some alleged witches die wandering or living on the streets.
The National Human Rights Commission should liaise with the Legal Aid Council, Ministries of Justice, Women’s Affairs, and Social Welfare, and ensure that victims of witch persecution like Maryam get the support that they need. The persecution of witches continues because these institutions are moribund. They have failed to fulfill their mission and mandate. These institutions should not allow accused persons to be doubly victimized by their accusers. To suffer witch persecution is enough tragedy. These agencies should not let the accused suffer further violation or abuse. These institutions should rise to the occasion, and help end impunity. They should synergize and rally against witch persecution in Bornu and other parts of Nigeria.
Someone drew the attention of the Advocacy of Alleged Witches (AfAW) to an incident of witchcraft accusation at Shangev Tiev, Konshisha LGA Benue State. One Terzungwe made a post justifying the maltreatment of the accused. He stated: “That witch in Konshisha who was attacked by the youths for killing a young man the other day deserved what she got. Witches and wizards must be given a taste of their own medicine and made to stew in their juice. If someone is found to be a witch, and is killing people, especially the young ones, such a person must physically be dealt with”.
Terzungwe’s view is widely shared in Nigeria. The attack or murder of an alleged witch is considered just and appropriate because many Africans believe that witchcraft is real; that people who harm others through magical means should be severely punished. In an attempt to legitimatize the persecution of alleged witches, Terzungwe alluded to witch hunting in Europe. He said: “Even in Europe and America, witch burning was such a thing. People who were found to be witches were often tied to a stake and burnt alive”. Indeed, witch burning happened in Europe. But that was about three hundred years ago. Yes three centuries ago! Europeans and Americans burnt alleged witches at stake. Should that be a justification to attack or kill imputed witches in Africa in this 21st century?
Look many Africans do not know that the reference to “European witch hunts” is a covert admission of their backwardness; that, when compared with people from the west, Africans are more primitive. That witch burning ended in Europe and America centuries ago should be a enough reason to discontinue the persecution of supposed witches in Africa. The occurrence of witch persecution in present-day Africa shows that Africans are trapped in the early modern European and Salem American mind warp. But do Africans realize this?
In addition, western churches and governments are issuing public pardons, and apologies for their role in the persecution of alleged witches centuries ago. They have acknowledged that witch hunting is a case of miscarriage of justice. Western witch pardon and apology should be a lesson that propels Africans to stop witch persecution and abuse.
Meanwhile, an advocate in Benue got in touch with a relative of the accused, who confirmed this case of witchcraft allegation and witch persecution. A local source stated that a young man had been sick for a while; he was battling cancer. Unfortunately, some youths in the community claimed that the sickness was induced by witchcraft. They assumed the ailment was a case of magical harm. Instead of consulting a medical doctor and managing the disease using an evidence-based medical procedure, some youths went to a local diviner who attributed the cause of ailment to some occult forces. The diviner identified an elderly woman, Mama, her eldest son, and the deceased father as those who were responsible for the sickness. The youths forced the accused to sit under the sun for hours, they asked them to restore the health of the ailing young man. The young man eventually died, and the youths stormed mama’s residence and destroyed it.
But some relatives were able to whisk her away to a safe location before the angry youths could harm her. The case has been reported to the traditional head of the community, not the police. AfAW will continue to monitor the handling of the case to ensure that accused persons do not suffer further abuse and violation. AfAW commends all those who worked to ensure the safety and protection of the accused. It enjoins all Nigerians to become advocates against witchcraft accusations and witch persecutions. AfAW is in contact with relatives of the accused and will work to ensure their safety and protection.
A recent post urging black and white South Africans to rally against witch persecution and muti killings has elicited some reactions from the pagan community in South Africa. While it has never been my intention to join issues with the pagan community, I would like to address the concerns that they raised. It is pertinent to take this opportunity to clarify what seems like some confusion and misunderstanding of the campaigns, positions, and activities of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW). These mistaken statements and insinuations are contained in the posts and comments that were published here. And here is my brief response.
First, I am aware that the South African Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA) has an advocacy campaign against witchcraft accusations and witch hunts. However, I do not know enough about the SAPRA campaign to comment on it. I welcome any initiative that could help tackle the menace of witch persecution in the region. Again, the AfAW campaign is much more than this writer and his views. To reduce the AfAW campaign to the position and perspective of this writer is to discount the important work that other advocates are doing in various parts of the region and beyond. The AfAW network has continued to grow. While I initiated this advocacy group, many others work and volunteer with AfAW and help in furthering the goal of ending witch persecution in the region. AfAW has advocates in Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia, Zambia, and other African and non-African countries who support its mission.
Yes, I am a humanist, and as stated on its website, AfAW’s position is humanist, skeptical, and human rights-based. Some advocates are religious or theistic. In fact all who have benefited from AfAW’s interventions are religious and theistic persons. Thus it is absurd and misguided to associate AfAW’s campaign with religious bigotry.
AfAW’s advocacy is against witch persecution, not against pagans or the pagan religion. In fact across African countries, the term pagan is largely seen as a pejorative word that western Christian missionaries and their African converts introduced to describe African traditional religion. They used it to mean fetish and idol worship as opposed to ‘true’ religious observance as encapsulated in Christianity. The term witch or witchcraft is alien to the target cultures in Africa. Witch or witchcraft is an Anglosaxon term for a local phenomenon that predates Africa’s contact with Western anthropologists. In its campaign against ‘witch’ persecution, AfAW speaks to a sociocultural issue that predates the pagan religion and conception of ‘witchcraft’ in South Africa. So the term witchcraft or witch as understood by pagans in South Africa comes with conceptual and cultural baggage that pagans in South Africa should acknowledge or ignore at their peril especially when engaging or criticizing the positions and activities of AfAW.
As stated in AfAW’s Decade of Activism, the campaign uses a two-pronged approach to combat ‘witch’ persecution. It defends, protects, supports, and empowers victims of witch persecution. It also educates and enlightens actual and potential accusers and abusers. As part of the public enlightenment of the accusing parties, AfAW critically evaluates narratives and ideas that are used to justify witch persecution, witch hunting, and killing. These narratives include notions that some individuals can turn into birds or insects and fly out at night or that some persons can appear and harm others in their dreams or use some ‘supernatural’ means to cause accidents, illness, and death.
Such an approach helps in reasoning witch persecutors and hunters out of their ignorance of nature and how nature works; it clarifies misconceptions of misfortunes and how misfortunes are caused. So why should pagans in South Africa have issues with this approach? Look, AfAW is not interested in what pagans believe. It is not the goal of AfAW to affirm or deny the pagan articles of faith. Pagan faith or belief is pagans’ business, not AfAW’s. AfAW is only interested and concerned about the narratives that witchcraft accusers, witch persecutors, and hunters use to justify their criminal activities and atrocities. AfAW campaigns to dispel these superstitious notions and practices that sanctify and legitimize witch allegations and bloodletting. It is not of interest whether these harmful beliefs form a part of the corpus of pagan, Hindu, Christian, Islamic religious, theist, or atheistic beliefs.
Pagans in South Africa should try not to misrepresent the campaign of AfAW or the positions of advocates. When AfAW declares that witches, as conceived by accusers, are imaginary, and do not exist, it is not an exercise in denial, it is a statement of fact. When advocates state that alleged witches do not turn into birds and fly out at night as their accusers claim, that is a position based on evidence. Isn’t it? That is not imposing atheism on Africans- as condescending as that sounds. What do pagans in South Africa have against campaigns based on facts? Why are they opposed to evidence-based positions and propositions? In the face of horrific abuses in the name of witchcraft, pagans in South Africa should be interested in calling out witch hunters and their mistaken propositions.
Witch persecution persists in Africa mainly due to a tongue-in-a-cheek approach of campaigners, and a lack of firm and unequivocal stand against superstition-based abuses. This trend must stop. I mean how does SAPRA expect to succeed in the advocacy against witchcraft accusations and witch hunts when it cannot critically engage and expose the mistaken beliefs and assumptions that inform the abuses?
Challenging the superstitious belief in witches is one of the hallmarks of the European Enlightenment. Skeptical rationality is one of the markers and moments of western modernity. Europeans and people of European descent look back to the era of Enlightenment with a sense of pride. And this should not be different in the case of advocacy against witch hunts and the furtherance of African modernity and Enlightenment. Pagans in South Africa should rise up to this challenge; they sh
Witch Persecution and Miscarriage of Justice in Adamawa, Nigeria
By Leo Igwe
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) urges the Adamawa state government to take urgent measures to tackle witch trials and persecution in the state. This appeal has become necessary following reported cases of abuse linked to witchcraft allegations and the failure of state institutions to address this menace. Through the office of the National Human Rights Commission in Yola, AfAW has received reports of witch persecution in Adamawa.
In one case, a 17-year old girl, Ms. Remigius was accused of witchcraft and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. According to a local source, the incident took place sometime in October/November in 2018 in Gaya district in Adamawa-Hong local government. The district head, Idris Abdullahi presided over the witch trial. Mr. Abdullahi invited some traditional ‘witch doctors’ after a girl fell ill. The witch doctors gave her some concoctions and she mentioned the name of Ms. Remigius and two other girls who initiated her.
The district head invited these girls and asked if they were responsible for the girl’s ailment but they denied it. The girls were told that they would return on a particular date when they would be tested and confirmed if they were guilty or not. As part of the trial, the traditional witch doctor would give them some concoction to drink. A rope would be tied around their neck, while the other end of the rope is placed inside a hole that was dug purposely for this trial. The witch hunter would tie their hands behind their back. Anyone who is guilty would be unable to stand after taking the concoction. If the accused is guilty, he or she would fall into the hole.
A date was agreed when the girls would undergo the trial. However, out of fear, a mother to one of the accused girls asked her to accept so that she would not be subjected to this ordeal. And she accepted. The witch doctor fined her 50,000 naira (110 dollars) But Ms. Remigius stood her ground. She maintained her innocence and agreed to go through the trial. Her father opposed the trial but the district head and the traditional witch doctor insisted that the trial would go ahead.
On the said date, which was a market day, the witch doctor stripped Ms. Remigius naked and made her stand before the public. He gave her some concoction to drink and left her under the hot sun from 9.00 am to 4 .00pm. The grandmother and her sister went to the scene, which was the residence of Mallam Shuaibu but they did not allow them to see her.
According to a family source, others who also drank the concoction were vomiting in the night but Ms. Remigius did not. She inquired from the traditional witch doctors who stated that she had not been fully initiated, that she was six months away from being fully initiated into the witchcraft world. The witch doctor asked Ms. Remigius to pay 150,000 naira (330 dollars) to stop her full initiation but she refused. Since the witch doctor was unable to confirm her guilt, Ms. Remigius’ father asked the district head and the witch doctor to release her daughter but they declined. They state that they would take to the prison.
Ms. Remigius’ reported the matter at the local police station in Hong. The police met with the traditional witch doctor and the girl at the house of the district head. They released Ms. Remigius and she went home with the father. Ms. Remigius’ family took her to a local hospital where she was medically examined and treated for the injuries. The rope bruised her neck and hands. In addition, Ms. Remigius’ family filed a complaint with the state police command in Yola, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, and the office of the National Human Rights Commission. According to family sources, the police told the complainants to report back several times and nothing came out of the process. The commissioner of Justice and the NHRC office in Yola invited the district head but he did not honor the invitation. After going through the complaint, the office of the NHRC in Yola awarded a compensation of 50,000 naira to the accused. However, family sources revealed that the said amount had yet to get to the accused.
In a related development, another woman, Mrs. Wisdom (55), has been subjected to torture, inhumane and degrading treatment in the name of witchcraft in Njoboliyo in Yola south. According to a relative, Mrs. Wisdom was severally accused. A Christian pastor, Imani Gideon was the main driver of the accusations. Pastor Gideon used to conduct prayer sessions at his residence and during the program, some people go into a trance to make some confessions. The pastor has some teenage girls, called the angels, who claim to have supernatural powers and they usually reveal those who have occult powers in the community. On one occasion, a woman confessed during a prayer session that Mrs. Wisdom wanted to kill her family member through occult means. Another man attempted to murder Mrs. Wisdom with a machete and javelin in the night. The daughter claimed that Mrs. Wisdom wanted to kill her in the dream. Fortunately, some neighbors intervened and the man could not harm him. Shortly after that another man, Absalom Ausa, broke into Mrs. Wisdom’s house and attacked her. He hit her with a big stick and injured her on the hand and head. But Mrs. Wisdom managed to escape to a local police station. From there she was taken to a local hospital where she was treated. On her return from the hospital, the elder brother of Absalom, Babangida saw Mrs. Wisdom at the premises of the police station. He held her on her clothe and slapped her. The police did not arrest or punish this man. Mrs. Wisdom continued to live in fear for her life and at a point, she fled the village and went to live with a relative in Yola North. While she was living there, Pastor Gideon through the village head invited her to his residence for some prayers but she refused to go fearing that they would harm her. After some time, the pastor sent some thugs in a car with a police officer and they came and abducted her.
On reaching the pastor’s residence, they forced her to lie on the floor and tried to pluck out the eyes. They accused her of killing the first wife of the pastor. And the second wife alleged that Mrs. Wisdom used her mystical powers to stop her from getting pregnant. They beat her and broke her leg. They removed her wedding ring claiming that it was an occult ring. In the presence of villagers and a police officer, they stripped her naked and flogged her with a power cable, and put some pepper on her private part. In addition, they hit her on the head with heavy metal and continued to beat her with a cable and a big stick that they call Gora in Hausa language. They also gave her some concoction to drink. In the cause of the trial, the Pastor’s wife said that God told her that she would give birth to twins named Paul and Paulina. But Mrs. Wisdom prevented her from getting pregnant. One of those torturing Mrs. Wisdom told her to make the pastor’s wife pregnant before November otherwise they would kill her anywhere they found her. According to family sources, they tortured Mrs. Wisdom to the point that she agreed to all the allegations so that she could remain alive. A man was the community later intervened and they stopped torturing. The following day they brought the woman back to her residence. Some family members took her to the hospital where she has been receiving treatment. They later reported the matter to the National Human Rights Commission office in Yola. After examining the complaint, the commission awarded a compensation of 300,000 naira (530 dollars). Family sources told AfAW that the alleged witch has yet to receive the compensation. Here is a copy of the submission which the family made to the NHRC office in Yola: “Torture, Inhuman, Cruel and Degrading Treatment/False Accusation: The whole incident started with series of accusations from some of the members of her community. Then one Rejoice claimed that the victim tried to kill her elder brother when the prayer was going on. Also on a subsequent occasion one with the name lovely a male, came and attempted to kill the victim with javelin and machete in the night when he was told by his daughter that she dreamed that the victim came with a knife wanted to kill her. But fortunately for the victim, her neighbors stop him and he went away.
After some months from the precious incident then one Absalom Ausa, a male, came to the victim house and hit her with a big stick on her head and even injures her and cut both her finger and her palm, and broke the door of the par-low and main room into pieces. Seeing that the victim ran to the police station of the village and she was taking to the hospital where she was been treated. On the same day after they left the hospital and return to the police station then the elder brother to Absalom with the name Babangida Ausa held her shirt and rapper and Slap her and tore it. After three weeks after the incident at the police station, when the pressure on the victim got high she ran from the village to her elder sister in Rumde Makera, yola north, with the help of some people. Then the Village Head sent one of his guard, S.O (Station Officer) and vigilante to her elder sister house to come with the victim but she refused to go with them, then they called the pastor on phone and told him, after hearing that the pastor sent his car and some strong men to come with her. And they came and took her away with the promise that the pastor will only pray for her. On reaching the pastor’s resident they laid her down trying to plug out her eyes they said she is the one that killed the first wife of the pastor. And his second wife said that she was the one who prevented her from getting pregnant. And because of the pastor’s wife, they broke the victim’s leg and they even removed her wedding ring that which’s an occult ring Still in the presence of the village Head the pastor his Wife, S.O and many other people who came to see what was happening, the stripped her naked, tortured her with electrical wire and they also put/applied pepper on her private part. Only God and she knew the pains she was going through at that time and even after. But that’s was not even enough, they took one heavy metal with it the have been hitting her head with it. After that, they continued beating her with electric cable on her body, and with another big stick known as Gora in the Hausa Language, they hit her leg hard which lead to a fracture in the leg. Whenever they asked her to agree to the accusation when she says no they continue beating and torturing her, they even gave her Acid to drink which she did, when she prayed in her heart unknowingly to them, and to the glory of God she didn’t die as expected by them. The wife of the pastor said God told her that she will get pregnant and give birth to two children with the name Paul and Paulina but the victim prevented that from happening. And one of the torturers by the name Gabriel Clair who broke her leg said if she didn’t make her get pregnant before November last year, Anywhere they see you they will kill you. They did a lot of atrocities to her and damage her health physically and psychologically, with some of the pictures attached herewith will prove to you beyond all reasonable doubt, not when you even see her physically the scars are evident. The pastor has some teenage children who they refer to them as angels they are the ones who claimed to have supernatural powers who can see beyond human eyes, they are the ones that told the pastor who is an occult person and witchcraft. They tortured my mother to the point that she had no choice but to agree to their accusations so that she will live. And what they do is, they will call the name of someone and said are you the one that killed that person she will answer yes, just anything they said she will agree to it. Lastly, the most painful thing is that no single prayer has been done to her which is what they said they will take her there for, but they ended up beating, torturing, and threatening her life. They tarnished her image, making almost 90% of her own community people and other people outside, see her as a witch”
Local sources have noted that witch trials and persecution are pervasive in Adamawa. District and village heads often invite traditional doctors and pastors to carry witch finding and witch cleansing in the communities. Witch hunters administer concoctions to alleged witches. These concoctions are poisonous and sometimes lead to death or permanent health damage. Victims of witch persecution largely suffer in silence. They resign to their fate and do not speak out or seldom take action against their accusers and persecutors. As the two cases have illustrated, even in situations where they seek redress, justice is elusive. The police are unable to carry out arrested and investigations. The attorney generals cannot ensure that justice is done. Even compensations that the NHRC promised have yet to get to the victims. AfAW concerned over the inability of state institutions to protect and defend alleged witches in Adamawa AfAW is outraged that sometimes state agents such as police officers are complicity in horrific witch abuse and trials in the communities.
AfAW asks the police and government of Adamawa to arrest and prosecute district and village heads, Christian, Muslim, and traditional witch doctors, and other perpetrators of witch-hunting in the communities. The government should ensure that there are serious consequences for indulging in witch persecution and trial by ordeal of alleged witches. AfAW enjoins the NHRC to make good its promise of compensating victims of witch persecution. The Commission should ensure that the compensation of 50,000 naira and 300,000 naira reaches Ms. Remigious and Mrs. Wisdom respectively. Compensations are pointless and empty promises and if the recompense is not delivered to those who suffered harm or loss. AfAW appeals to the people of Adamawa to abandon superstitions including misconceptions about the cause of misfortunes and embrace science and critical thinking. Dream experiences are fantasies informed by wishful thinking and anxieties. People of Adamawa should become advocates against witchcraft accusations and witch persecution. They should join efforts with AfAW to dispel witchcraft fears and anxieties and make witchcraft accusations and witch-killing history in 2030.
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches(AFAW) urges the government of Malawi to declare a state of emergency on witch persecution in the country. This measure has become necessary to enable the country to contain the epidemic of witch-hunting. Witch persecution is ravaging the country on a massive scale. Witch-hunting has occasioned a humanitarian crisis.
It poses a major threat to the lives, health, safety, and well being of people in Malawi. Unfortunately, Malawi has done very little to address this problem. The world continues to turn a blind eye to this tragic situation. A robust national response is urgently needed to contain the witchcraft related devastations and destruction of lives and property.
Advocates in Malawi say that some accusation or persecution of alleged witches takes place in Malawi every day. In most cases, the persecution ends in the extrajudicial killing-lynching, stoning, or beating to death of the alleged witch. This violent campaign leads to the destruction of property, abduction, and disappearance of persons suspected of witchcraft. There is an ongoing war against alleged witches in Malawi. And this war should end -and must end-now. The government cannot continue to look the other way while innocent persons accused of witchcraft are attacked and killed with impunity.
In the past weeks, AFAW has received reports of violent attacks and murder of alleged witches from various districts across Malawi. In one case, an irate mob stoned the alleged witch to death. And in another incident, a mob lynched the accused. In both cases, the victims were accused of causing the death of persons in the communities.
These cases and other incidents of witch-hunting illustrate a failure of the state of Malawi, a reign of chaos, anarchy, and vigilante justice, the inability of the government to protect the citizens and uphold the rule of law. They demonstrate collective insensitivity and national irresponsibility towards the plight of alleged witches. It is time that the government of Malawi put in place extraordinary measures to guarantee the safety and protection of alleged witches. The government must take cogent steps to end witch bloodletting in the country. The world must send a strong message to the government of Malawi that there are consequences for its continued failure to protect the lives and property of alleged witches. The world must let Malawi know that there is a price for its continued refusal to take appropriate actions and end this campaign of violence and human rights abuses. The international community must demonstrate a willingness to tackle this menace. Malawi should declare a state of emergency on the persecution of alleged witches, or be compelled to do so.
Events in the past few months have compelled a rethink of the link between religion and human rights. Protests across the Muslim world over the republication of the cartoons of Prophet, Muhammad and the attendant bloodletting in France have underscored the mortal threat of Islamic extremism. It is particularly worrying that at one of the protests in Pakistan, a Muslim cleric shouted: “There is only one punishment for blasphemy”. And others chorused: “Beheading, Beheading”. Of note is the outrageous statement by the Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi that: “Freedom of expression stops when Muslims are offended”. One wonders if this statement is not another instance of a misplaced sense of entitlement or an exercise in religious conceit.
The torture and abuse of people accused of witchcraft in African countries are constant reminders of the extent that human beings could go in perpetrating egregious harm and abuse when they are motivated by religious, superstitious, and irrational sentiments. In discussing a topic like this, views and perspectives are likely to be taken off context; they could be judged as racist or Islamophobic and weaponized by far right or left-wing politicians in Europe.
So, it is important to clarify that this presentation draws from a Nigerian/ African context. Even though in this piece, references are made to events that have transpired in Europe, this is an African perspective with insights from a non-western context. A part of the presentation focuses on the intersection between Islam and human rights violations drawing from the case of the Nigerian Humanist, Mubarak Bala.
This presentation speaks to a different setting; a context where Islam is a dominant religion and sharia law is in force, not a setting as in the West where Islam is a minority religion and Muslims are mainly migrants. The dynamics at play are different and should not be confused and conflated in situating the global threat of religion-based human rights abuses.
Allegations of racism and Islamophobia feature prominently in the European discourse on Islam. However, these are debate-blocking, criticism-dampening, and censorship mechanisms, and they make no sense, or better, are counterproductive in the Nigerian African life situation. In Nigeria, the main problem is hatred, oppression, and persecution by Muslims, not of Muslims, not irrational hatred, and prejudice against Muslims. Allegations of racism and Islamophobia are used to minimize persecutions and atrocities that are committed in the name of Islam. They distract and detract from the urgency of tackling Islamic extremism, impunity, and human rights violations.
Take the case of Mubarak Bala. Bala came out as an ex-Muslim in 2014. He almost lost his life in the process because family members consigned him to a mental hospital where they treated him as a psychiatric patient. And look, Mubarak Bala’s case is not an isolated incident. In Islam, apostasy or blasphemy is, sometimes, associated with mental illness otherwise it is treated as a crime punishable by death. A Sudanese humanist, Mohamed Salih, who identified as non-religious during a local registration process, was charged for apostasy in 2017. But Salih was fortunate. A court freed him after a psychiatrist certified that he was mentally incompetent. By the way, Sudan has recently abolished its apostasy law. Even though, the abolition of apostasy could have been necessitated by Sudan’s quest to be removed from the US’ list of state sponsors of terrorism and have the crippling sanctions lifted. In a related development, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned the mental health condition of French President Emmanuel Macron after Macron made comments critical of Islam following the killing of a schoolteacher in France. The schoolteacher showed the cartoon of Prophet Muhammad in class. “Macron needs treatment on a mental level”, Erdogan is quoted to have said.
Bala’s family subjected him to this ‘mental level’ treatment. But he managed to escape from the hospital following an international outcry and campaign by the global humanist community. Bala continued to write and speak out against radical Islam, Islamic privilege, and the lack of separation of mosque and state. He brought to the foreground the underground atheist movement in Islam-dominated Northern Nigeria. However, the emergence of Islam-critical views continued to infuriate the Islamic establishment in the region. The growing visibility of atheism and free expression of views that were critical of Islam continued to rile up Muslims in the area. Last year, Muslims organized a session on social media and the rise of atheism in Northern Nigeria at a local university. But that event did very little to dissuade the likes of Mubarak Bala or dampen the enthusiasm of a growing number of atheists and humanists who saw social media as space and opportunity to express themselves and freely speak, post, and comment on religion.
Now in a further attempt to clamp down on the emerging humanist/freethought movement and rein in Mubarak Bala, the police arrested him on April 28, 2020. The arrest happened following a petition by local Islamists who complained that Bala insulted the prophet of Islam in a Facebook post. The petitioners alleged that Bala called the prophet of Islam a terrorist and a pedophile. The police disappeared Bala for several months, denying him access to a lawyer and family visits. They have refused to charge or release him. Meanwhile, other Muslims have taken to social media calling for the murder of Mr. Bala if he is eventually released from police custody.
And look, these are not empty threats. Alleged blasphemers are either sentenced to death by sharia courts or murdered in cold blood in northern Nigeria. Islamic courts hand down death sentences to blasphemers if they are Muslims as in the case of Yahaya Sharif. Muslim fanatics kill, lynch, or behead alleged blasphemers if they are non-Muslims as in the case of Bridget Agbahime, Mrs. Agbahime, a Christian woman was murdered in Kano for insulting the prophet Muhammad. Her suspected assailants were charged in a court, but the Kano state government pressured the court to dismiss the matter, stating that the suspects had no case to answer.
Look, this situation is not peculiar to Kano. In Islamic northern Nigeria, those who murder, behead, lynch, kidnap, and assault alleged blasphemers or desecrators of the Quran have no case to answer.
This regime of impunity applies to abuses linked to witchcraft accusations and witch persecution. Witch hunters act without fear of punishment. Witch killers and bloodletters are seldom brought to book because as in the case of Muslim persecutors of blasphemers, they are largely exempted from sanction and prosecution.
In October, a local mob lynched an elderly woman in Kenya for witchcraft. Local sources informed me that since August, at least 4 elderly women have been murdered in Kenya for perpetrating occult harm. There have been other horrific acts of murder of alleged witches in Ghana, Nigeria, and Malawi. In Nigeria, a local politician set ablaze 15 suspected witches, including his mother, in May this year. The police have refused to arrest and prosecute the suspects despite several petitions and representations.
Those who act in the name of the supernatural, be it God or Allah, prophet Muhammad or Jesus, witches or demons, do so with impunity and in utter disregard for humanity because they believe that they are only accountable to their deities, not human beings. They care not; they care less about human-mediated sanctions, consequences, and penalties. Some logic, reason, and evidence need to be deployed to resist these bloodletters and address this global menace. In response to the pervasive superstition-based abuses, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches, was launched in January this year. The main goal is to end witch persecution in Nigeria, nay in Africa by 2030.
Witch persecution has persisted in Africa because the campaign to eradicate this dark and destructive phenomenon has largely been defective. Those who prioritize respect for African religious and cultural sentiments over reason, science, and evidence have championed the process. Those who are driven by the notion that Africans are not yet ripe for the European, yes, the western kind of Enlightenment are leading the efforts. They do not want to be seen as disrespecting Africans. They do not want to be accused of racism, or as in the case of Islam, Islamophobia, or neocolonialism. The campaigners cannot call African witchcraft by its name: superstition, and in effect, they prosecute wishy-washy, lackluster enlightenment programs that paper over the problem.
Efforts must be made to prosecute an effective global campaign against religious extremism and superstition-based abuses. This campaign must include defending the rights of all human beings, including Muslims to blaspheme and hold views that are critical of religious and superstitious beliefs without fear. Even at the risk of being accused of racism and Islamophobia, Humanists must resist attempts to censor comments that are critical of harmful cultural practices. Humanists must rally against measures to outlaw or prohibit expressions and publications that highlight religious absurdities and other misconceptions that inspire hatred, violence, fanaticism, and bloodletting. Humanists must stand against this tendency by religious believers to value their religion, their holy book, their place of worship, the name of their god, a cartoon of their prophet more than human life. These extremist tendencies should not be excused under any pretext. Expressions, theistic or non-theistic, are not free unless they offend or can offend or provoke. Freedom of expression starts and not stops at the point where individuals, Muslims, or non-Muslims could be offended.
Early in this 21st century, an Enlightenment with a global dimension lurks on the horizon and beckons on all humanists to act. In the words of Franz Fanon, each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it. So it is, and so will it be with this generation of humanists. Now I ask: will this generation of humanists answer this call to duty? Will it fulfill or betray the mission of the New Enlightenment?
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AFAW) has been notified of another case of witch killing in Malawi. A local newspaper reported this unfortunate incident. According to the report, a village mob lynched a 55-year old man, David Mkandawire.
He was accused of bewitching the village head. The man temporarily fled the community but was lynched on his return to the community. The police have yet to apprehend suspects. In August, AFAW was informed about a related incident, also in Malawi. In this case, a local mob destroyed houses and other belongings of suspected witches.
Photos that were sent to AFAW showed rampaging mob setting on fire houses of alleged witches in a rural village. In a text message, an advocate in the area says: “There is pandemonium in Mbuta and Misi villages in Dowa district where villagers are setting houses on fire and killing livestock for individuals who allegedly practice witchcraft. The laws of Malawi do not recognize the existence of witchcraft”.
Now, if the law of Malawi does not acknowledge the reality of witchcraft, what are the law enforcement agencies doing? In an effort to understand the context, I shared the newspaper cutting with advocates in Malawi and asked for their thoughts. One said: “This is becoming a sorry sight. Almost every day we have one person killed for witchcraft. Community-based interventions could be the key to ending these abuses”.
Another advocate replied: “Terrible”. Then he stated: “The fact that this story has been filed as a brief shows that the media and society look at these issues as normal”. I asked him to clarify his point. And he noted: “I am saying that this is supposed to be a front-page story. It is a big story. But we have accepted such things as normal so we cannot give them a big space”. I inquired to know what could be done to change the situation.
And he responded: “Raising awareness is the key. There are no serious programs in Malawi to address this. The only guy that has been fighting against this is George Thindwa. His mistake was that he launched a campaign arguing that there was no God. So when he started the anti-witchcraft campaign, he had already lost the plot”.
Now I asked him what would be the best ‘plot’ to end this harmful practice. He said: “You can mobilize resources and launch programs here. I am sure even local sponsors can join if you do it well”. His response did not address my question. So I asked him: “Should one lie about one’s belief to get the campaign right?” And he said: “The point is when raising awareness, you need to consider sensitive issues. If you want to tackle witchcraft, you do not focus on the arguments that there is no God, considering that you are dealing with people who are so deep in religion”. This advocate was not the first person to make this point- to fault the campaign by atheists to combat witchcraft allegations and witch persecution.
Indeed some have suggested that expressive atheism is a stopper, and is counterproductive in the campaign to eradicate witch persecution in the region. They advise that atheists should conceal or lie about their atheism when campaigning against witch persecution. I disagree. This proposition, which demonizes and de-legitimizes atheism has been part of the religious propaganda for ages.
To wage a campaign that can stand the test of time, it is pertinent that such an initiative be fact and evidence-based. It is important that campaigners make clear their position on the existence of God when asked. While I understand the point in that suggestion, I think the proposition is mistaken. From my own experiences, atheism is a stopper for many people in persuading them to abandon the belief in witchcraft. But that does not diminish its campaign value or worth. Many witchcraft believers understand but may seem unpersuaded when anti-witchcraft campaigners state that they are atheists.
They react out of cognitive dissonance. Witchcraft believers do not necessarily see atheistic viewpoints as invalid but as having some logical implications that conflict with what their religions teach them.
Look, many witchcraft believers think it is contradictory and religiously dishonest to claim to believe in God and not believe in witchcraft. When one tries to get into a conversation with a witch believer or tries to reason a person out of witchcraft belief, some of these questions usually follow: What is your religion? Which church do you go to? Do you believe in God? The way one answers these questions determines how the message is received. If one answers that he or she believes in God, has a religion, or goes to church and still does not believe in the reality of witches, the person is seen as a weak or dishonest believer and immediately get preached to.
If one says that one is an atheist, the person is likely to get a reply such as “Nhhh No Wonder”. Witch believers understand that it is expected that a disbeliever in a witch should be a disbeliever in a god. The witch believer may choose to listen cautiously and curiously, hoping to be persuaded. That is if the person is a bit open minded and liberal. Or the witch believer may decide to passively pay attention or may turn to the opposite direction shutting out this demonic talk.
Such reactions should not make campaigners water down the facts and evidence or lie about their belief or disbelief. In campaigning against witch persecution, non-belief in witches or by implication in God is an asset, not a liability. Those who think otherwise are greatly mistaken. Non-belief frees one from the crippling fears and anxieties that too often stop believers from waging an effective campaign against this dark and destructive phenomenon. Witch persecution persists in Malawi and other African countries due to lackluster awareness and intervention programs that do not compel or persuade believers to rethink the reality of witchcraft. This campaign status must change.
As the reports from Malawi show, witch persecution is ravaging many parts of Africa at an alarming rate. Witch imputation has created a situation of anomie and impunity. The situation needs urgent fact and science-based intervention. Africans must rally all resources in addressing this sociocultural disease. Africans must wage an effective campaign that reorients the minds of the people. They should put in place community-based education programs that dispel the belief in witches and intervention mechanisms that will end these horrific abuses even if the logical next step for Africans is embracing atheism.
another victim of witch-burning in Cross River State in Southern Nigeria
Another case of witch persecution is unfolding in Cross River state. I was attending an event in Lagos when the news reached me. A renowned Nigerian journalist, Funmi Iyanda, is featuring the issue of child witch persecution in one of her Public Eye episodes later in the year. She invited me for an interview at her Lagos studio in August. While at the dinner table with Barr James Ibor of the Basic Rights Initiative (Calabar), who was also featured in the program, his phone rang. I overheard a woman at the other end of the phone urging him to intervene in a case of witch persecution in one of the communities in Cross River state. An alleged witch was about to be murdered.
I asked him to link me to this local advocate, which he did. I could not speak with the lady that evening. I asked her to forward photos of the victim to me. The following day I called the lady, and she told me that some youths in the community were about to murder an elderly woman, after accusing her of witchcraft. The contact person sent me a text summarizing details of the case:
“The sister’s children and her children have sent her out of the house that she built. When she came to Akamkpa, she bought a piece of land, erected a building, and invited the brother and sister to live with her. Today, they are saying that she is a witch. They have sent her out of the house that she suffered to build with the husband, beating her and saying that she is a witch, that she killed her children. This woman trained her sister’s daughter, who later died, and they said that she killed her niece.
Now her sister has been sick for a long time. They did not allow her to go and see the sister at the hospital. The sister had HIV/AIDS, but they refused to tell people. Now she later died, and they claimed that she was responsible for her sister’s death and that she too must die. They said that it was a prophet that said she was a witch. They sacked her from the house that she suffered to build with her husband. Some of her children who are with her have also been sent out. The case is with the police and, also in court. The woman has no money to hire a lawyer. Any place that she tries to take refugee, the children would go there and cause trouble and ask them to send her out or kill her.” I inquired to know more about the case, but the local advocate told me to contact one of the woman’s sons, the only child who has been defending and supporting her.
I tried speaking with the victim’s son on several occasions without success. Some days later, I was able to speak with him, and he confirmed the story as recounted by a local source. Some of the siblings suspected the mother of witchcraft and in August they abducted her and took her to a nearby bush to kill her. But the police and the youth leader intervened. The woman was rescued and taken to the police station. He gave me the phone numbers of the police officer and the youth leader who helped to rescue the mother. I called the youth leader the following day, and he confirmed that he helped save the alleged witch from being murdered. He noted that the woman had on several occasions been suspected of having occult powers and using them to cause harm, diseases, and death in the family. Some family members had reported her to the Akwa Ibom community in the area, and they asked the family to contribute some money, 100, 000 Naira (250 dollars), so that they could go and do some findings, and ascertain if the woman was a witch. And the family could not afford the money. And during this period, an old woman died in the compound. The children of the deceased and some of the children of the alleged witch went and abducted her and took her to a nearby bush to kill her. One of the sons contacted the police, and a police officer phone the youth leader in the community. The youth leader reached out to the abductors and prevailed on them. The alleged witch was eventually released and taken to the police station. The youth leader said that when they brought her out from the bush, the alleged witch had a machete cut on the left hand. They also hit her on the left eye, and she had some bloodstains on her clothes. The son said that the abductors robbed the mother and took the money in her possession.
I rang up the police officer who confirmed the story. He said that he was the Investigative Police Officer that handled the case. But he refused to make any further comment on the issue. He told me that the matter had been charged to court and would be coming up for hearing on September 18 at the Magistrate court, Akamkpa. A local contact told me that witch persecution in Akamkpa and that alleged witches were often attacked and beaten. That when people are persecuted for witchcraft, nobody used to come to their support. Meanwhile, there is tension in the community since the police intervened, and the case was charged to court. Those who tried to provide shelter for the accused had been attacked and beaten. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AFAW) is in touch with the victim and the son. AFAW has provided some funds for her to rent an apartment while her case is being processed in court. Those who believe in witchcraft need to be educated and enlightened. They need to realize that witchcraft is a form of superstition. The notion that some persons could harm others through occult means is baseless and mistaken. Allegations of witchcraft are rooted in a lack of understanding of nature and how nature works. The police in Akamkpa must be commended for intervening in the matter and for rescuing the alleged witch from her bloodthirsty relatives. Now the police should work with community leaders to ensure that the woman suffers no more harm or attack. Those who tried to murder her would go to any length to evade justice. It is now left for the court to diligently process the case, and ensure that justice is done.
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