Spirituality

Maidstone councillors seek pardons for people convicted of witchcraft

Maidstone councillors are lobbying the U.K. government and planning to petition King Charles III for pardons for everyone convicted of witchcraft in the town, CBS News reports. The effort is part of a wider movement seeking official pardons for women executed for witchcraft centuries ago.

According to CBS News, records indicate that Maidstone was where over 20 women were hanged after being convicted of witchcraft. The town, just outside London, was a site of witch hunts around 400 years ago, and the hunts reached their peak in England in the 1600s.

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Maidstone councillors cite miscarriages of justice#

Claire Kehily, a member of Maidstone Borough Council, told CBS News that the convictions mattered because they were miscarriages of justice. She said the accused could not have committed the crimes attributed to them and, in many cases, had no way to establish their innocence.

Kehily said those targeted were usually single women or widows without a man to defend them. She told CBS News that people are still scapegoated, drawing a connection between the historical cases and miscarriages of justice in the present.

Kehily showed CBS News a reconstructed prison cell at Maidstone's town hall; it came from an earlier medieval building. People accused of witchcraft were held in the earlier building before trial, according to the report.

Scotland has also considered recognition#

CBS News puts the number of women executed after witchcraft convictions across England and Scotland at around 5,000. The Scottish Daily Express gives a separate estimate of around 1,500 people executed for witchcraft in Scotland.

In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon apologized in 2022 for people sentenced to death as witches while she was first minister, the Scottish Daily Express reported. A proposed Stirling Council motion later called for a civic apology to people accused, persecuted, convicted or executed in the city.

The Stirling motion also asked council officers to explore a way to commemorate those who suffered, working with historians and community organisations, according to the Scottish Daily Express. In Maidstone, Kehily and her fellow councillors plan to petition King Charles III for an official pardon.

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