Malawi convicts four found with eight suspected albino bones

Malawi has convicted four people who were found in possession of eight human bones suspected to be of an albino person.

The three men and one woman were arrested early this year after Phalombe police received a tip-off from a businessman the four had approached to sell the bones, Nyasa Times reported.

The four were reportedly convicted after pleading guilty to the charge of Prohibition of sale of body or tissue, in contravention of the Anatomy Act and will be sentenced in February.

Medical experts in Malawi confirmed the bones as human.

The lives of people living with albinism continues to be threatened. The prevailing attitudes in parts of East Africa perpetrated by some witchdoctors that albino body parts bring power and good luck have been blamed for the increase in attacks on albinos.

Business people and politicians who pay witch doctors for charms and the middlemen who source the body parts have also been blamed for the rise in ritualistic attacks and killings of people with albinism.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR) has published a report on the discrimination and murder of people with albinism. UNCHR officials have been calling for greater protection for these people who are vulnerable and face this form of discrimination.

Source: Nyasa Times