MacLeans ran a brief summary of the current status of the prosecution of men accused of murdering albinos in Tanzania. Albinos are targeted in Tanzania and other African countries because it is believed their body parts have magical and/or medicinal properties. MacLeans reports that in October three men were sentence dto death for the killing of a 14-year-old albino boy whose body was then chopped up into pieces, presumably for sale on the black market.
It also reports on a particularly recently grizzly murder of a young albino girl,
An equally barbaric case is also garnering national attention: Mariam Emmanuel, a ?ve-year-old girl, was butchered by a group of machete-wielding men in Mwanza. The culprits divided the girl’s body up among themselves and drank her blood while her siblings watched.
Unfortunately, while this conviction (though not the death penalty) represents progress, this is apparently the first time since the wave of albino killing began in 2007 that anyone has been convicted of a crime related to the murders in Tanzania.
Under the Same Sun is the main organization currently addressing issues faced by albinos in Tanzania, including the horrific murders, and has a petition urging that more be done to stop the murders. It also accepts donations.
