A group in London plans to petition the British government for a posthumous pardon for the hundreds of people executed for witchcraft [1] between the 16th and 18th centuries.

The head of Angels, a large costume shop in London, is leading the effort and said she believes it's time to put the associations about witches and Halloween to rest. The group has created a website to collect signatures [2] for their petition and had about 200 signatures this morning.

Around 400 suspected witches were executed in England and some 4,000 in Scotland, according to the group that worked with a historian to research cases they hope will motivate the government to act.

The cases include a woman who offered cures in Essex, England in the 1500s, but was accused of having "uneven results," and a woman who was jailed for begging for food and then accused of having shaky hands that suggested she was "tormenting someone."

A Scottish group took a separate petition to the Scottish parliament last month.

Source [3]