"Stop ritualistic killing. It will not pay you anything. It will not make you rich, nor will it give you a job. If anyone is found guilty of this practice, I will sign his death warrant without winking my eye and I will sleep well."
These were the words of Liberia's transitional power-sharing government Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant in reaction to reports of an upsurge in ritualistic killings in post-war Liberia.
These threats by the Liberian head of state have however in no way deterred ritualistic killers. Rather, there has been an upsurge in this primitive, barbaric practice. Notwithstanding Bryant's threat, radio reports of missing children in the capital Monrovia are common.
Just two days after the Chairman's pronouncement last month, a 19-year-old youth identified as Archibald Dakai was travelling on a motorbike in northeastern Nimba County when he was abducted by a young man who asked him for a lift on his motorbike.
He then led the youth to a group of ritualistic killers (known in Liberia as "Heartmen") who injected him with formaldehyde. The victim's decaying body was discovered later with parts missing.
Last Thursday, citizens of the central provincial city of Gbarnga went on the rampage, burning down vehicles and a Nigerian provision shop in protest at the upsurge in ritualistic murders in Bong County.
The protest was sparked off by the abduction of a youth called Junior Korto who was ambushed on the Gbarnga-Monrovia highway. He survived the attack, but sustained severe injuries during the scuffle.
Korto's attempted murder is just one in a series of ritualistic activities in Bong County, including the case of a woman whose body was found with breasts and fingers removed a month ago in Sergeant Kollie Town on the Gbarnga-Monrovia highway.
Three people have been arrested in the county in connection with ritualistic activities, according to police.
In another case, a Ghanaian identified as Ansu and a woman called Musu were seized by ritualistic murderers from their canoe as they travelled by river in eastern Rivercess County. The Rivercess County Superintendent Sampson Cephus told state radio that Musu's body was later found with organs missing. Ansu's body has not yet been recovered.
The justice ministry said that it is holding nearly 20 people in connection with involvement in ritualistic killings, a capital crime which carries the death penalty under Liberian law.
The ministry said it has received numerous reports of ritualistic killings by the so-called "Heartmen," with 13 incidents reported in eastern Grand Bassa County during just two weeks last month.
Residents of Grand Bassa organized community-watch teams to clamp down on perpetrators of this crime. There are also reports of ritualistic killings in southeastern River Gee and Maryland Counties.
Ritualistic killing is an age-old practice in Liberia. According to 70-year-old Logan Town resident Alfred Cooper, Heartmen usually remove the tongue, private parts, breasts, the skin of the palm and other vital parts, after killing their victims.
The parts are used to prepare talismans believed to endow users with power and riches. Talismans prepared from human parts are also believed to bring victory to users in political contests.
"This is why there is usually an upsurge in ritualistic murders during elections," Cooper said.
"Only mentally sound people in good health with some prospects in life are usually murdered. It is the sorcerer who prepares the talisman that decides whether or not a male or female is needed for a certain talisman," 65-year-old Ahmadu Belloe said.
Ritualistic killings take various forms in different parts of Liberia. What has made the practice so widespread is the fact that talismans prepared from human parts are used by persons from all walks of life regardless of social status or ethnic or educational background.
Ahmadu Belloe feels that this practice is rampant because past leaders have not grappled with the issue head-on. It remains to be seen whether Chairman Bryant or his successors will be more successful.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Since the war in the Middle East began nearly two weeks ago, the telephone at Ron Hubbard’s bomb shelter company in Texas has not stopped ringing. Foreign and US clients are rushing to buy his bunkers, seeking refuge in case of air raids, nuclear fallout or apocalypse. With the US and Israel pounding Iran, and Tehran retaliating with strikes across the region, Hubbard has seen demand for his product soar, mostly from Gulf nation customers in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. “You can imagine how many people are thinking: ‘I wish I had a bomb shelter,’” Hubbard, 63, said in
STILL IN POWER: US intelligence reports showed that the Iranian regime is not in danger of collapse and retains control of the public, casting doubt on Trump’s exit Nearly every US Senate Democrat on Wednesday signed a letter sent to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth requesting a “swift investigation” of airstrikes on a girls’ school in Iran that killed scores of children and any other potential US military actions causing civilian harm. Reuters reported on Thursday last week that US military investigators believe it is likely that US forces were responsible for the Feb. 28 strike on the school, as US and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran. “The results of this school attack are horrific. The majority of those killed in the strikes were girls between the ages
RSS