Freedom of fear is a human right
Rule of law an obligation of the state

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1. Rumours of ritual murders, riots and a failing rule of law ^new
   Suspected ritual killings in Luapula Province sparked a four-day protest, in which three people allegedly involved in the same were burnt to death while several protestors were shot dead or wounded by law enforcement officers.
   (....)
   Riots broke out in Mansa after residents of Senama and Kapesha areas in the provincial capital staged a riots following a rumours that local businessmen have engaged killers who are abducting children for body parts to use in boosting their businesses.

   At least eight people died in the riots though the police command claimed no one was shot dead.
   
   Read more...:
   
   'Mansa mother accuses govt of killing her son'   April 25, 2011 ^new
   
   'Mansa parents complain about son's death'
   April 24, 2011 ^new

   'Police recover looted items in Mansa'
   April 24, 2011 ^new
   
   'Deadly riots send a bad signal'
   April 20, 2011 ^new
   
   'Two die in Mansa riots'
   April 19, 2011 ^new

    

2. DRC envoy collapses, dies ^new
   (....) police in the Copperbelt have dispelled rumours that there are ritual killings in the province, especially in Chifubutownship (...)
   April 11, 2011
    
3. Woman escapes alleged ritual killing
   (...)
   Police spokesperson Bonny Kapeso said the suspects are in police custody.
   
   “This comes in the wake of a local businessman’s attempt to shoot his female employee after driving her in the bush where she allegedly sneaked away from him,” he said.
   
   Mr Kapeso said the woman escaped from her employer around 02:00 hours and sought refuge at a nearby village where she narrated her ordeal.
   He said the woman sent text messages using her mobile phone to her relatives, after which they reported the matter to Zambezi police.
   
   Mr Kapeso said people rioted and went on an orgy of destruction after word went round that the woman escaped alleged ritual killing. He said the businessman is currently in custody helping police with investigations.
   The circumstances under which the woman jumped into her employer’s vehicle are not known.
   (....)
   February 27, 2010
    
4. Teenage girl murdered by suspected ritual killers
   A teenage girl, believed to be mentally disturbed, has been found dead with her left arm missing in Nsadzu ward of Chadiza District. The deceased only identified as, Inoni, also had her right hand broken while the right thigh was found ripped by a sharp object.
   
   The development has sparked fears that the recent suspected ritual killings reported in Chipata could spread to Chadiza.
   (....)
   
   According to some Nsadzu residents Inoni went missing for three days before the body was spotted floating on Nsadzu stream by passersby last Thursday some 15 kilometers from Chadiza administrative centre.
   
   Police from Chadiza Police station retrieved the body from the stream and it has since been buried.
   (....)
   July 2, 2009
   
    
5. Zambia: Amnesty International Report 2007
   (....)
   In March (2006), two journalists working for Radio Chikuni in the Southern Province were arrested and charged with publishing false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public. They were detained overnight and then provisionally released.
   
   The charge stemmed from a broadcast about a young boy found dead after going missing. The body was said to be mutilated, and local residents suspected that the boy was the victim of a ritual killing.
   (....)
   Zambia Amnesty International Rport 2007
   
   Poliice Arrest Two Journalists
   March 14, 2006
    
6. Zambia New Online - Ritual killings and mob justice
   (....)
   Early this year, another spate of mob justice hit the country, especially Lusaka and the tourist capital Livingstone, after children started disappearing. Some of the children were later found, horribly mutilated. These murders were believed to be ritual killings. Angry mobs again took their justice, beating to death some suspects who the police say were innocent. This ended only when the police arrested and had several men convicted.
   (....)
   September 3, 1996  
    
7. Witchcraft and Ritual Killing
   (....)
   Some Indian businessmen and traders in South Africa and Zambia are also thought to indirectly participate in ritual killings to secure medicine that will ensure the success of their businesses. There are, of course, ways around the outright killing of someone to obtain human tissue. In Johannesburg, a White police officer at a mortuary was alleged to be supplying traditional healers with human fat, harvested from the corpses he was paid to protect (Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft Violence and Ritual Murders in the Northern Province of the Republic of South Africa, 1995).

   Source: David Simmons 1999

    

    

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