From VOA News
English: Huli Wigman from the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Не ешьте его (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Authorities in Papua New Guinea say a woman has been tortured and burned alive after being accused of using sorcery to kill a six-year-old boy.
Local media said Friday hundreds of villagers, including children, watched Wednesday as relatives of the boy stripped and tortured the 20-year-old mother. She was then bound, doused with gasoline and thrown into a mound of burning trash and tires. The boy had died in a hospital the day before.
Authorities said the crowd in the town of Mount Hagen chased away police and firefighters who tried to intervene.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Pete O’Neill said he had instructed police to use all available manpower to bring the killers to justice.
The U.S. embassy in the capital, Port Moresby, condemned the killing as “brutal murder” and evidence of pervasive gender-based violence in the country.
There have been several cases of witchcraft killings and cannibalism in PNG in recent years. In parts of the Pacific nation, deaths and mysterious illnesses are sometimes blamed on suspected sorcerers, usually women.
