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| Southeast Asia |
| ’Sorcerers’ buried alive, burnt, raped and stoned, says minister |
| 2003-06-19 |
| Women accused of sorcery in Papua New Guinea are being burned at the stake, stoned, raped, axed, buried alive, electrocuted, forced to drink petrol and dragged behind vehicles, according to a government minister. Minister for Welfare Lady Carol Kidu said this yesterday in an appeal to foreign aid donors to fund research into sorcery in PNG, where many citizens cling to ancient beliefs in black magic and "payback" attacks. After receiving evidence from doctors working with victims, Lady Kidu said she was horrified by the brutal methods of torture and murder employed against the accused — most of whom were older women. She said the sorcery interrogations were usually carried out by young men. The methods of torture included beating (often with barbed wire), breaking bones, burning with red hot metal, raping, hanging over fire, cutting body parts slowly, amputating and pulling behind vehicles, she said in a statement. "Mostly, however, if the victim is not dead she is then killed by one of the following methods: Execution, being thrown over a cliff, into a river or cave, burned alive in a housefire, buried alive, beheaded, hanged, choked to death, starved, axed or electrocuted, suffocated with smoke, forced to drink petrol or hot liquid, stoned or shot". Lady Kidu said bystanders were afraid to intervene as they themselves might be accused of sorcery. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #6 See article below...this one is a nice demonstration of Mathahar's "Asian values" in action. |
| Posted by: Watcher 2003-06-19 20:35:14 |
| #5 tu: Let's not force our cultural mores and stereotypes on these fucking whackjobs. What are you, culturally insensitive? They're using standard Anglo-Saxon criminal procedure to perform these interrogations. Unfortunately, the more recent law books were already checked out at the library -- the only copy left was printed in Massachusetts in the late 1600s... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-06-19 19:35:48 |
| #4 Please! Please! Let's not force our cultural mores and stereotypes on these fucking whackjobs. What are you, culturally insensitive? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-06-19 17:02:02 |
| #3 Not for nothing is Port Moresby rated as the worst hardship post worldwide. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-06-19 15:10:49 |
| #2 Mostly, however, if the victim is not dead ... And pray tell, how many live to that point? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-06-19 14:37:16 |
| #1 So I'm guessing the new Harry Potter will NOT make the PNG-Times bestseller list? (Oh, wait...maybe it's just that Lord Voldemort is taking control of PNG. Quick, send an owl to Dumbledore!) |
| Posted by: Hodadenon 2003-06-19 14:33:36 |