Zambia Jails Two Men For Witchcraft Plot To Kill President Hichilema

A Zambian court has sentenced two men to two years in prison with hard labour for attempting to kill President Hakainde Hichilema through witchcraft, the country’s first case of its kind.

The men, Leonard Phiri of Zambia and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde of Mozambique, were arrested in December after being found with a live chameleon, white powder, a red cloth, and an animal’s tail, allegedly for a ritual meant to kill the president “within five days.”

Both were convicted under Zambia’s colonial-era Witchcraft Act.

The case comes amid accusations that Hichilema is using the courts to silence critics, and against a backdrop of tensions over the disputed burial of former president Edgar Lungu, where witchcraft claims have also surfaced.