A mob armed with machetes, stones and knives killed seven people accused of practising witchcraft in southern Tanzania, a regional police chief said on Thursday.
Villagers accused the suspected witches of cutting off the sexual organs of dead villagers and using them to concoct charms intended to bring good harvests and fortune.
About 22 villagers and local leaders appeared in a magistrate court on Wednesday on charges of killing the seven. They were not asked to enter a plea because only the High Court has the jurisdiction to try murder cases, said Omari Maganga, police chief for the southern Iringa region.
The suspects are accused of killing five men and two women they suspected of practising witchcraft in three villages in Iringa, Maganga said.
Police investigations indicate that village leaders and other local officials ordered the killings after villagers named the suspected witches, Maganga said.
”The accused used machetes, stones, knives and other sharp objects to murder the seven alleged witchcraft practitioners,” Maganga said.
Belief in witchcraft is common throughout rural Tanzania.
A 2002 report by the United Nations’s World Health Organisation said an estimated 500 elderly women accused of witchcraft — often connected with an event like crop failure — are murdered every year in Tanzania.
Others have killed relatively wealthy villagers they accused of being witches and then claimed their property.
The killings have also been linked to a cross-border trade in human skins that are used in witchcraft. Some people believe human skin protects a home from demons and spirits and that when used in special rituals it can increase harvests and lure clients to shops and other businesses. — Sapa-AP