Four To Die By Hanging In Tanzania For Killing Albino

In Tanzania, 1 in 1,400 people have albino skin. In the West, the numbers are 1 in 20,000. (Photo: dawn)

Just days after the country president announced during a national broadcast that Tanzania would crack down on the shame of Tanzania, the killing of albinos, four people have been sentenced. A court in Tanzania’s northwestern region of Geita has sentenced four people to death by hanging after they were convicted of killing a woman with albinism. The prosecution told the court on Friday in Gieta that the victim died after the accused people chopped off her legs two and her right arm on March 11, 2008.

Agency reports continues:

Joacquine Demello, the presiding judge, said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused people had indeed killed the woman with albinism.

The judgment was delivered a few days following reports of a fresh wave of killings of albinos.

Meanwhile, Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kikwete, has expressed shock over the fresh wave of killings of albinos. He said the barbaric cruelty, which was giving Tanzania a bad international image, would not be tolerated. Kikwete called for immediate arrest and charging of perpetrators of such brutal killings.

He said his government had relentlessly worked round the clock to prevent the crime ever since he assumed the presidency in 2005.

The killings of albinos, which were often motivated by the use of body parts for ritual purposes, have claimed the lives of at least 76 people and 56 others have been injured in Tanzania since 2000.

The President had promised on Tuesday in Dar es Salam, to end a wave of killings of albinos, saying the witchcraft-related murder was a big shame to the country. He made the commitment during a national broadcast that there was urgent need for closer cooperation between the government and the society to end the killing of persons with albinism.

Mr. Kikwete had disclosed that more than 70 albinos had been killed since 2007 but insisted that his government was taking action to end the murders.

“There are about 200,000 albinos in Tanzania, most of them easily recognizable as they lack pigment in their skin, eyes and hair,’’ he had said.

The President said investigations revealed that witch doctors often tell clients that albino body parts would bring them luck in love life and business.

“It is a false belief that if someone has the body parts of a person with albinism this will bring success in business, fishing and mining activities. This is what has been fuelling this ongoing evil,” he said.

He said similar beliefs exist in other African societies but activists say attacks on albinos were particularly prevalent in Tanzania. Activists said the murders had been concentrated in gold-rich regions and fishing communities surrounding the country’s Lake Victoria area where superstitious beliefs are rampant. They said most attacks are not reported to the police.