Around 4,000 Scots are estimated to have been accused of the crime, which was in law until 1736, with around 85% of those convicted being women.
Campaigners have been fighting to secure a legal pardon for around 200 years for the approximately 2,500 people convicted of breaking the law.Accused of witchcraft by her brother King James V, as part of a vendetta against his family, she was arrested on trumped up charges. People close to her were tortured to extract"evidence" and on 17 July 1537 Janet was burned alive on Castle Hill, Edinburgh, with her young son forced to watch.
"It was a powerful and incredibly important first step in righting the historic wrong of 'witchcraft' accusations, arrests, and executions. "By issuing official pardons for all those convicted of witchcraft, we will be sending a strong message to the wide world - some parts of which, women still face prosecution for being accused of witchcraft - that Scotland recognises what happened to these people as a deplorable miscarriage of justice.
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