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| Papua New Guinea Moves to Repeal Sorcery Act | |
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| SYDNEY, Australia — Papua New Guinea’s Parliament has voted to repeal the country’s Sorcery Act and also to reinstate the use of the death penalty in certain cases to help stem an increase in violence against people accused of practicing black magic. | |
| Violence against those accused of sorcery is said to be endemic in the South Pacific island nation, and a rise in the number of brutal public killings in the last year has caused international condemnation and embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. | Violence against those accused of sorcery is said to be endemic in the South Pacific island nation, and a rise in the number of brutal public killings in the last year has caused international condemnation and embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. |
| Mr. O’Neill last month vowed to repeal the 1971 Sorcery Act, which criminalized the practice of sorcery and recognized the accusation of sorcery as a defense in murder cases. He made the pledge after the highly publicized decapitation of an elderly former primary schoolteacher by a mob whose members accused her of using witchcraft to kill a colleague. | |
| Under the amendments passed on Tuesday, rape, robbery and murder would be among the crimes that could now draw the death sentence. Although death by hanging has technically been legal for decades in the former Australian colony, no hangings have been carried out since 1954. A variety of new methods of execution — lethal injection, asphyxiation, firing squad and electrocution — were stipulated as part of the package of new legislation. | |
| The decision to reinstate the use of capital punishment was difficult but ultimately necessary to combat a culture of lawlessness and violence in the impoverished country, said Daniel Korimbao, a spokesman for Mr. O’Neill, in a statement. | |
| “These are very tough penalties, but they reflect the seriousness of the nature of the crimes and the demand by the community for Parliament to act,” he said. | |
| Papua New Guinea has come under increased international pressure to end what appears to be a growing trend of vigilante violence against people accused of sorcery. Last July, police officers arrested 29 members of a witch-hunting gang who were murdering and cannibalizing people they suspected of being sorcerers. | Papua New Guinea has come under increased international pressure to end what appears to be a growing trend of vigilante violence against people accused of sorcery. Last July, police officers arrested 29 members of a witch-hunting gang who were murdering and cannibalizing people they suspected of being sorcerers. |
| The killing in February of Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old woman who was stripped, tortured, doused with gasoline and then set ablaze, caused an international outcry. The United Nations said it was deeply disturbed by her killing, which was reportedly carried out by relatives of a 6-year-old boy who, they claimed, had been killed by her sorcery. | The killing in February of Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old woman who was stripped, tortured, doused with gasoline and then set ablaze, caused an international outcry. The United Nations said it was deeply disturbed by her killing, which was reportedly carried out by relatives of a 6-year-old boy who, they claimed, had been killed by her sorcery. |
| Earlier this month Mr. O’Neill publicly apologized to the female population for the high rates of sexual and domestic violence in the country, and he supported making crimes such as aggravated rape and gang rape punishable by death. | Earlier this month Mr. O’Neill publicly apologized to the female population for the high rates of sexual and domestic violence in the country, and he supported making crimes such as aggravated rape and gang rape punishable by death. |
| The human rights group Amnesty International, which has campaigned loudly against sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea, praised the repeal of the Sorcery Act but assailed the reintroduction of the death penalty | The human rights group Amnesty International, which has campaigned loudly against sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea, praised the repeal of the Sorcery Act but assailed the reintroduction of the death penalty |
| “Papua New Guinea has taken one step forward in protecting women from violence by repealing the sorcery act, but several giant steps back by moving closer to executions,” Isabelle Arradon, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement. | “Papua New Guinea has taken one step forward in protecting women from violence by repealing the sorcery act, but several giant steps back by moving closer to executions,” Isabelle Arradon, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement. |
| “The taking of a life — whether a person is beheaded by villagers or killed by the state — represents an equally abhorrent violation of human rights,” she said. | “The taking of a life — whether a person is beheaded by villagers or killed by the state — represents an equally abhorrent violation of human rights,” she said. |