In a total witch hunt by Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, the Minister for Environment, Climate Change, and Energy Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem and two unnamed accomplices were arrested last week on suspicion of “performing a black magic spell” after cops allegedly found one or more coconuts with spells damning the president carved into them at her home, Metro UK reports.
So yeah we kind of lied in the headline since Saleem wasn’t technically arrested for witchcraft, but more like wizardry or maybe voodoo. It’s a thing in Maldivian politics. Former President Abdulla Gayoom’s minions were accused of rigging elections in 2013 by hiding eggs and coconuts in certain locations – including a cemetery – around the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago’s capital of Male.