As it is understood from the documents, the slave was tried for the crime of doing magic. The most interesting thing was that offended patrons turned to the Inquisition, complaining about the ineffectiveness of their magical practice.

Documents reveal the story

The accused, Sallem bin al-Sheikh Mansur, served tradesmen, carpenters, shoemakers, and knights. They hoped that her magic would heal illnesses and find love and wealth. But things didn’t go as planned, and then they all voluntarily appeared in front of the office of the Roman Inquisition in Malta in the spring and early summer of 1605 and admitted that they had hired Sellem.

The man was accused of using various types of magic.

• Vittorio Cassar, architect and servant of the Knights of St. John, who ruled the island at the time, claimed that Sellem taught him the form. prophecy called geomancyinvolved drawing dots in random patterns and then interpreting the results.
• Cassar also handed the inquisitors a treatise he claimed was written under Sellem’s direction. He claimed that he offered to teach her magic, which is called reuchania in Latin – as if predicted the summoning of demons.
• Later, witnesses such as Pietro La Ré, French Knight of the Order of Saint John, summoned demons for him and read spells from a magic book.

Sellem eventually admitted that he practiced healing and enjoyed performing magic for some clients, but said that he did not actually know magic and that his spells were “jokes” or “fakes” to make money from naive Christians.

He admitted to teaching Cassar geography, and told the Inquisition that he had learned astrology and geography from his father in Cairo. However, he repeatedly denied that he had a magic book and knew something about summoning demons. Even when the court brought him face to face with his accusers and resorted to torture, he did not admit that he had committed these practices.

If I had known this, I would not have been a slave in Malta!
– quoted in that document.

Sellem was found guilty. It was passed through the cities of Birg and Valletta and then tied to a pole in Valletta’s main square for an hour. After that he was sent back to prison for an unknown period and disappeared from the historical record.