Tanzania’s high court on Wednesday sentenced three men to hang for the murder of a 13-year-old albino boy, killed for his body parts in the country’s northwest, local media and a rights group said.
At least 53 albinos have been killed since 2007 in the east African nation and their body parts sold for use in witchcraft, especially in the remote northwest regions of Shinyanga and Mwanza where superstition is rife.
Witchdoctors say the body parts of albinos — who lack pigment in their skin, eyes and hair — bring luck in love, life and business. One of the accused was found with two legs belonging to the deceased, Matatizo Dunia, local radio said.
Canadian albino rights group, Under The Same Sun, welcomed the court’s decision but said that this was just one judgment out of 53 deaths.
“This is one conviction. There are 52 other families still awaiting justice,” Peter Ash, the group’s founder and director, said by telephone from London.
The government has opened at least 15 cases against suspects involved in the killings, in which body parts like hair, genitals, arms and legs are taken for use by witchdoctors.
Authorities have arrested more than 90 people, including four police officers, for their involvement in the murders or trade of albino body parts.
The killings have sullied Tanzania’s reputation for relative calm in the region, and drawn condemnation from the UN and EU.
In neighboring Burundi, at least 11 albinos have been killed since last year. So far 13 people have been convicted, including one who received a life sentence.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was