3000 People in Tanzania Hanged Related Dark Arts

Arusha, Tanzania - About 3,000 people, mostly elderly women, who allegedly practicing black magic has been hung in Tanzania on Tuesday.

"Between 2005 and 2011 about 3,000 people were lynched by the neighbors are scared because they think they are witches," said the Legal and Human Rights Center (LHRC).

"On average 500 people ... especially the red-eyed old woman, were killed every year in Tanzania because they were suspected of being a witch," said the LHRC.

According to the human rights watchdog, the murder case against suspected witch is most prevalent in the province of Mwanza and Shinyanga, in the northern region of the country.

Between January 2010 and January 2011, for example in Shinyanga province have been 242 cases of killings of people suspected of practicing witchcraft.

LHRC explained that red eye is a sign used by the public to identify that person is the perpetrator of witchcraft, often caused by the use of cow dung as fuel for cooking in poor areas.

Local residents have confidence that the practice of witchcraft is the culprit of infertility, poverty, failure in business, droughts and earthquakes.