Amnesty International condemns killing of 90-year-old woman accused of witchcraft

Human rights advocacy group, Amnesty International, has strongly condemned the killing of a 90-year-old woman at Kafaba in the East Gonja District of the Savannah Region.

The frail old woman was tortured and killed in broad daylight to the glee of onlookers after a soothsayer accused her of being a witch.

In a video which has since gone viral, the older woman was surrounded by hundreds of residents and pushed to the floor by the soothsayer and another middle-aged woman.

She was whipped, slapped and kicked by her attackers. The frail 90-year-old woman was seen pleading with her attackers to spare her life as she denied the allegations of being a witch.

But her pleas to her abusers were flatly disregarded. She was accused of being behind the misfortunes of the town.

Reacting to the disturbing video which has since sparked public outcry, Country Director for Amnesty International, Robert Akoto Amoafo described the action of the town folks as “barbaric, backward, and criminal”.

In an interview with theghanareport.com, Mr. Akoto Amoafo called on the security agencies to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators.

He believes failure on the side of the police to arrest and prosecute the offenders will leave a dent on Ghana’s justice delivery system.

“It will be a very bad dent on our legal system if the state does nothing about it. If the police do nothing about it, or if any state institution does not take this matter up and investigate it and make every information public so that we know what actions have been taken, it will perpetuate disrespect in our law.

“People will take the laws into their own hands, and they will feel there is nothing that can be done against them.

Mr. Akoto Amoafo said the latest video brings to the fore the need for certain long-held cultures to be abolished.

“This is clearly a hold on to culture and certain traditions that are still not helping us. But as said in the constitution, any practice that is harmful is against the constitution. We hope that something will be done about this,” he told theghanareport.com.

In addition, Amnesty International said they would visit the community where the incident happened to engage traditional authorities on the need to desist from such practices.

“We’ve only seen this video. We don’t know of others that have been killed and we have not seen. So this is a serious matter, and people should not think they can take the laws into their own hands and go scot-free”.