Blantyre – Three people
have been sentenced to death in Malawi for the murder and
mutilation of a person with albinism, a court official confirmed
on Wednesday, a sanction the judge said would serve as a strong
deterrent.
Malawi is one of the most dangerous countries for people
with the condition, who are targeted for ritual killings because
of a belief that their body parts can increase wealth.
Douglas Mwale, Sophie Here and Fontino Folosani killed
Prescott Pepuzani in 2015, using a metal bar and a hoe handle
before chopping off his hands and legs and burying him in
Mwale's garden in Mchinji district, Central Malawi.
Passing sentence on Tuesday at the High Court in Mchinji,
Judge Esmey Chombo said it would act as a strong deterrent to
others and help put an end to the crime.
Another man was sentenced to death in Malawi in May for
murdering a teenager with albinism – the first time the death
penalty had been handed down in such a case – though he has not
been executed.
Malawi operates a moratorium on the death penalty and last
carried out an execution in 1992, according to research by
Cornell Law School.
The southern African country is home to up to 10 000 people
with albinism, a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and
eyes.
Their body parts can fetch high sums in an underground trade
concentrated in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
There have been more than 160 recorded attacks in Malawi, including 22 murders, since November 2014, according to human
rights group Amnesty International.
The government has denied accusations by rights groups that
it is doing little to stop the violence.
Overstone Kondowe, who heads the African Union for People
with Albinism, said he hoped the sentence would curb the
attacks.
"This is really a big step and we want to encourage the
Malawi government to continue (with tough penalties)," he said.
"Whether they will really be hanged or not, it's not
significant. The public will still get the message."
Kondowe urged the courts to take a similarly tough stance
with other pending cases, adding that the murders of people with
albinism had fallen in Tanzania, which has imposed the death
penalty in similar cases.