EKET,
Nigeria — The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling
with ants, staring blindly at the wall.
His
family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to
force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning
away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper
the name of the church that had denounced him – Mount Zion Lighthouse.
A
month later, he died.
Nwanaokwo
Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of
witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members.
Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children"
reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.
Some
of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international
franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation,
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
"It
is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of
Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones
Nigeria.
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