THE latest episode of BBC Alba’s award-winning current affairs programme, Eorpa, explores historical witchcraft persecution and proposed bill to pardon convictions.
Reporter Eileen Macdonald speaks to women’s rights activists, local groups memorialising accused witches and campaigners who support MSP Natalie Don’s proposed Witchcraft Convictions (Pardons) (Scotland) Bill in the programme, shown for the first time last night.
On International Women’s Day 2022, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a formal apology to those people – around 85% of them women – who were tortured and executed under the Witchcraft Act 1563.
Campaigners argue that more should be done, believing the slew of convictions over this period should be taught about in schools and that a national monument should be created to remember the victims.
Recognition of this is becoming more widespread, with a local memorial being erected in Peebles at the end of October to commemorate those killed as part of witch hunts in the town.
To get to the heart of the issue, Macdonald hears from Witches of Scotland founder, Claire Mitchell KC, justice policy worker at the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre, Kate Thompson, and Peebles Witch Trials campaigner Elisa Smith.
On the proposed new bill, Thompson said: “It’s an attempt to redress the wrongs of the past. It’s sending a clear message which is recognising what went on then was wrong and it was unacceptable then and it’s unacceptable today ... it is teaching us about some of the roots of some of this misogyny.”
The proposed bill not only heartens campaigners at home, but is also relevant for many abroad for whom “witch hunts” are not a thing of the past, with persecution on the basis of alleged witchcraft still common in parts of Africa and Oceania. Indeed, speaking to Eorpa, Nigerian activist Leo Igwe said: “People are dying silently while the world is looking on.
“And what can Scotland do for us at this stage? What you can do is grant a pardon for the people who suffered this centuries ago so that there will be hope for the families of people that are dying silently in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia.”
Eorpa aired on BBC Alba last night, and will be available on BBC iPlayer for 11 months.
