The Feminist News Wire has recently noticed an increase in news stories about the killing of women accused of witchcraft in Asia and Africa. While many consider ‘witch hunts’ a historical matter, they continue to affect women today.
According to Reuters-India, every year dozens of Indian women are killed for being witches or practicing “black magic.” A woman in Bhubaneswar, India, was beaten, gagged and burned to death last week when accused of witchcraft.
CNN reports that another Indian woman was tied to a tree and beaten by a mob on Friday. The woman had been hired by a man “to use magic and prayer to improve his wife’s health,” but was accused of being a witch when his wifes health deteriorated.
In Kenya last week, eight women and three men were killed when a mob dragged them from their houses and burned them individually, according to the BBC. Villagers reported finding evidence that the eight were witches in an exercise book found at a local school with minutes of a “witches meeting.”
