ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Local police in Iraq’s Anbar province announce the arrest of a group of people specialized in witchcraft and sorcery crimes, as well as the seizure of tools used in the practice, as part of a campaign by authorities to clamp down on the growing phenomenon.
“A team from Anbar police raided houses and places, arresting eight people who are accused of engaging in the practice of sorcery and witchery,” announced Adil Hama Rashed, Anbar Police’s commander-in-chief.
Rasheed added that they seized plenty of tools used in the practice, including beads or prayer tasbih, inscriptions, and other items used for witchcraft.
“The detainees have made this a profession to mislead people for an amount of money that is sometimes excessive,” he detailed.
Large numbers of people in Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region, are believed to seek the services of witchcraft and sorcery practitioners.
This phenomenon poses the risk of blackmail for those who avail of such services, with Baghdad and Erbil authorities repeatedly clamping down on practitioners.
In early April, Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior announced it had arrested nearly 50 individuals for practicing witchcraft and sorcery.
The practice of witchcraft is prohibited according to Iraqi law, with practitioners facing severe punishments, including a maximum sentence of five years.
In addition to sorcerers, self-proclaimed healers present another issue in a similar vein, with these individuals claiming to be able to resolve ailments by invoking mystic powers.
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