Nadowli (U/W), 30 Nov, '98 - Trial by ordeal which was so common in the Nadowli district is gradually fading out, following intensive educational programmes carried out by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and other collaborators.

Mr Nwinkaara Ibrahim, Nadowli District Director of the NCCE, told GRi in an interview at Nadowli that a group of people belonging to a cult used to brutalise people, mostly innocent ones, during an epidemic or in times of sickness, sometimes leading to their death.

People subjected to trial by ordeal for witchcraft are normally old ladies and old men who cannot defend themselves.

More than 100 of such cases were recorded in the district between 1995 and 1997, he said, citing an example in Duong, a community in the district where a man alleged to possess witchcraft, was thrown into a hand-dug well.

Mr Ibrahim said, with the assistance of the police and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), they have as part of the human rights laws been able to prosecute a few people found indulging in the act.

He called on the relatives of such victims to always report to the police.

No cases have, however, been recorded since January, this year.