Witch-hunting has existed for millennia. The Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest ancient law codes in existence dating back to the early 2nd millennium BC, makes reference to a man casting a spell upon another man, and proscribing the sentence of death upon the spell-caster following a trial by water (the person upon whom the spell was allegedly cast could also be executed if this trial concluded a different result).
In the Early to Late Middle Ages, many individuals (primarily) women were accused of witchcraft and executed in a variety of ways following trials by fire, water, and others; often rigged to produce the desired result of guilt, with mob justice following in the form of burning the 'witch' alive, hanging them, or beheading them, assuming the 'witch' did not die from the trial itself.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, extrajudicial killings of those considered witches occur quite frequently, and both Saudi Arabia and Cameroon have anti-witchcraft legislation. A mob in Kenya in 2008 burned 11 people accused of witchcraft, and recently in West Africa, a trend of publicly lynching those accused of using magic to make one's penis non-functional has grown and seen over 300 killings so far.
This survey will tackle the concept of witchcraft, its historical relevance if any, prosecution, and contemporary situation in your nations. Due to the variety of manners in which witchcraft was interpreted, and who was to be the practitioner, the common concept of the female witch is to be eschewed from this survey. Witch will refer to an alleged practitioner of magic or arts considered evil or dangerous, regardless of sex.
In the event these questions fail to adequately cover the topic for some interested parties, a custom response in addition to or in place of the questions provided is encouraged, and the below questions should be treated as a topic guide as opposed to a mandatory response.
No statistics are being recorded from this survey nor any list compiled.
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[b]Regardless of historical prevalence, as all nations have typically heard of witches even if none existed within them, how does your society and cultural trend define witchcraft and witches?[/b]
[b]At any point in your nation's history has there existed a cultural or religious concept of witchcraft and witches?[/b]
[b]If not, with what regard did or do your people view those perceived to have been otherwise spiritually enhanced, such as wisefolk, witch-doctors, shamans, priests, or others?[/b]
[b]If so, was witchcraft subject to social distrust and the alleged practitioners of witchcraft subject to a pursuit and killing, either by mob or by law?[/b]
[b]Do the killings of alleged witches continue into the present day, however this is defined by your nation's canon, either legally or extra-judicially?[/b]