Madrid - Spain has granted asylum to an African albino for the first time after a 22-year-old Malian claimed he was persecuted by witchdoctor kidnappers in his home country, reports said on Tuesday.
Abdoulaye Coulibaly, who reached Spain's Canary Islands illegally in March and was granted asylum status on Friday, says he escaped several kidnap attempts in the Malian capital Bamako, El Pais newspaper reported.
"Twice they tried to kidnap me to use my body," Coulibaly told El Pais. "I know they cut off the fingers and the hands of other albinos to use them in rituals."
Beliefs surrounding "white-skinned blacks" have been entrenched in some African communities for centuries and albino body parts, used in lucky charms, can fetch tens of thousands of dollars.
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