Mozambique mob lynches two women for ‘witchcraft’

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Lynch mobs in southern Mozambique have killed two people they accused of being witches, state media said Wednesday.

“Those who were detained in connection with the death of these people accuse their victims of witchcraft. Some of the detainees are teachers of some schools in the area,” state broadcaster Radio Mocambique reported, citing local police in Gaza province.

Police have arrested six people for the killings, which happened at the weekend, the radio station said.

Lynchings are common in Mozambique, where mobs often take the fight against crime — including perceived witchcraft — into their own hands.

Twenty elderly people accused of witchcraft have been killed in Mozambique in the past nine months, according to the Forum of the Third Age, a group that advocates for the elderly.

 

[Image via Flickr/Kaysha, Creative Commons licensed]