Mozambique: Gang of four amputates arm of albino teenager in Ile

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Gang of four amputates arm of albino teenager in Ile

12:37 CAT | 04 Dec 2023

FILE - PRM spokesman in Zambézia Sidner Lonzo. [File photo: DW]

A group of four men, not yet identified by authorities, amputated the arm of a teenager with albinism in the province of Zambézia, central Mozambique, Mozambican police said this Thursday. Superstitious beliefs and myths result in the victimisation of persons with albinism.

The crime occurred on November 18, in the district of Ile. Four men took the 14-year-old boy, who was sleeping on a balcony, to a forest and amputated his right arm, said Sidner Lonzo, police spokesman of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Zambézia.

“They also tried to amputate the left arm, but fled when they became aware of the arrival of the teenager’s relatives,” the spokesperson told Lusa, adding that the victim “is under care and out of danger”.

According to the police, there are no arrests yet, but it is suspected that one of the teenager’s uncles is involved in the case.

In some areas of Mozambique, albinos are frequently killed for the purposes of superstitious practises.

People with albinism have been victims of persecution, violence and discrimination due to myths and superstitions, which include the use of organs or bones in witchcraft rituals, making them among the main targets of human rights violations.

Since 2014, in Mozambique alone, at least 114 people with albinism have disappeared in mysterious circumstances, according to the latest data provided to Lusa by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).

Albinism is a genetic disease characterized by the total or partial absence of pigments in the skin, hair and eyes.

In another district of Zambézia province, Morrumbala, the police detained two persons suspected of decapitating a 37-year-old woman on Saturday.

The detainees are part of a group of five people, three of whom are still at large, who allegedly beheaded the woman in a machamba (agricultural field) in the district of Morrumbala and absconded with her head.

“The two detained suspects were not in possession of the head and they say that it is with the leader [of the group],” Lonzo said.

According to authorities, both crimes may be related to superstitious practises, and in most cases, criminals receive orders from other people who intend to sell human organs.

Source: Lusa