SORCERY

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 6:30 AM

Amnesty International Calls on PNG to Stop Sorcery Deaths

Human rights organization, Amnesty International, is urging Papua New Guinea to make a greater effort to put an end to sorcery-related killings in the country which seems to be on the rise.

According to the report by Amnesty International, the media has reported over 50 deaths in 2008 related to sorcery 'either because of an actual increase in such incidents or that more incidents are now being reported'. "When dozens of people have been killed after literal witch hunts, it's clear that the government is not doing enough to protect its own citizens and maintain the rule of law," said Apolosi Bose, Amnesty International's Pacific Islands researcher. "The police and judicial authorities have to step in immediately before another person faces this kind of vigilante...

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009 6:06 AM

PNG Court Punishes Sorcery-Related Killer

The Papua New Guinea court has sentenced a man to 50 years in jail for his part in a sorcery-related killing while the country receives yet another report of another sorcery-related killing.

According to PNG's The National, National Court judge, Justice Nicholas Kirriwom, sentenced the man last Friday, saying that the 'courts cannot sit by and allow summary executions of innocent lives'. The judge sentenced Wilson Okore, 29, to 50 years in jail with hard labour for the murder of National Forest Service officer, Jerry Kaiulo, on Feb 8, 2006. Mr. Kaiulo had been accused by his colleague, Prisca Houje, 'of sorcery which caused her to have severe headaches and dizziness'. According to the report, Ms. Houje had also accused several other male colleagues of...

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Wednesday, February 04, 2009 10:09 AM

Another Sorcery-Related Killing in PNG

A 40 year-old man has become the latest victim of sorcery-related killing in Papua New Guinea after he was brutally chopped to death by a group of men after being accused of practicing sorcery.

According to PNG's The National, the incident took place last week outside Goroka in the Eastern Highlands of PNG in a village in the Unggai-Bena district. According to the report, the 'man was allegedly taken before a kangaroo court that comprised church pastors and village court officials, pronounced guilty and taken away to be chopped to death by a group of men armed with bush knives'. 'An eyewitness, who gathered the victim's mutilated remains and buried them, identified the deceased as John Ogono from Fayantina in Henganofi district' and 'had migrated to Kopafo village in...

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Friday, January 09, 2009 4:45 AM

Sorcery Killings on the Rise in PNG

The number of people being killed for being allegedly involved in sorcery has risen in Papua New Guinea, with more than 50 people in last year alone becoming victims.

According to Post Courier Online, Eastern Highlands provincial police commander, Teddy Tei, 'said more than 30 people were reportedly killed in the province while Chimbu police commander Joseph Tondop confirmed more than 20 cases', however, 'the two men said they believed there to be more cases that had not been reported to police'. 'Mr Tei, in condemning these brutal killings, said in some cases people suspected of sorcery were tied and burnt alive while others were simply killed in front of others'. He said that 'the police were doing a lot of awareness on killing of...