London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Sep 21, 2025

Scotland could soon pardon thousands of women executed as witches

Scotland could soon pardon thousands of women executed as witches

Nearly 4,000 people in Scotland were accused of witchcraft between 1563 and 1736, many of whom were tortured and executed.
The Scottish Parliament could soon consider pardons for thousands of people -- mostly women -- who were put on trial and executed centuries ago for witchcraft.

Scottish parliament member Natalie Don wrote on social media that she would begin the process of a members' bill in parliament "to seek a pardon for those convicted and executed."

"The incorrect criminalisation of these women only strengthens gendered stereotypes in the modern-day and I believe righting this wrong will make a real impact in challenging gendered and patriarchal attitudes which still exist in society," Don, a member of the majority Scottish National Party, said.

She thanked the "Witches of Scotland" group led by lawyer Claire Mitchell QC which has been campaigning for those accused of witchcraft between 1563 and 1736 to receive a legal pardon, obtain an official apology and a national monument.

"(Don) sees the resonance between what happened then and what happens now, we're still not equal as a society and because we're still not equal, it's important to recognise when we've got that individually wrong. And I think in recognition, it means that we grow as a society and we can make an effort to do better," Mitchell told Euronews.

She said that the pardon is to recognise officially and legally that these people were not witches whereas the apology is because many people were accused of witchcraft but died or ran away.

"Some of them were acquitted of the charge of witchcraft, but then their lives were ruined," Mitchell explained.

"You can only pardon people who have been convicted after trial, who have been found guilty. But there were many people affected by the witchcraft trials who were never convicted."

Historians say that around 3,837 people were accused of witchcraft under Scotland's Witchcraft Act which remained in effect for nearly 200 years.

During this time, witchcraft was considered a mortal crime, and those convicted of it were strangled to death and then burned at the stake so that there wasn't a body to bury. Two-thirds of the suspects suffered this fate -- a huge figure for the small country.

Suspects were also imprisoned and tortured in order to obtain confessions as they awaited trial and women were not allowed to speak in their own defence. Sleep deprivation was used as a form of torture as well as stabbing suspects with pins to find evidence of the Devil's mark.

"One of the first ways of proving that (a woman was a witch) was that there was evidence laid at trial if you were what is described as a 'quarrelsome dame.' So a woman who would argue with people," Mitchell explained.

"That means that if you are a person known to argue about how much meat the butcher gave you or that you argue with your neighbours or you are generally an outspoken person, that would be used against you as an allegation of witchcraft."

King James VI of Scotland, who ruled from 1566 to 1625, considered himself an expert in witchcraft and in 1597 wrote the philosophical text "Daemonologie". During his reign, the witch hunt was especially brutal.

It was finally recognised in 1736 that witchcraft did not exist and the law was changed.

"I do think there are repercussions from these witch trials,” Mitchell said. "For a period of over 200 years, women were scared."

"They were scared to stand out. They were scared to voice their opinions, and it kept women in a place where they were in fear. And that has got to have affected as it were the psyche of women who pass that onto their children," Mitchell said.

Today in Scotland there are small memorials to those convicted under this law, but the "Witches of Scotland" group says that they "remember the witches, rather than represent an apology for those who lost their lives."

Mitchell says that it needs to be recognised that these women suffered a miscarriage of justice. The group wants a memorial that would be "a public space which reflects women's history, which tells the story of the terrible miscarriage of justice that happened to these women and let people know about it."

Proposing a member's bill is likely to be a long process, including drafting, presenting and voting on it in the Scottish parliament.

The group hopes that on March 8, 2022, International Women's Day, the Scottish government will make an official apology to the victims.

"It's not a victory. I would describe this as a positive step in the right direction. We are very much hoping that we get success in the campaign, but we're not yet there," Mitchell said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
×