Islamic fundamentalists attack 83 years old Christian woman in Uganda for housing new Christian converts

Some Islamic extremists in Uganda have beaten up a female Christian to a pulp for given refuge to two young men who converted from Islam to Christianity.

Morning Star News reports that Harriet Namuganza, 83, took the two new Christians, age 18 and 22, into her four-bedroom apartment in Iganga, Iganga District of the east African country following a request by a local pastor.

The pastor made the request because the relatives of the two converts were hunting them to kill for dumping Islam.

The newspaper reports that trouble started for Namuganza when on August 4, the older of the converts received a telephone call from one of the attackers who posed as a pastor pledging to assist persecuted Christians.

The caller sent 30,000 shillings (about US $8.50) to him as part of the support.

“He called again informing of his plan to visit us,” the new convert, whose name is kept secret for security reasons, said.

At about 10pm on September 8, the disguised pastor paid them a visit.

“When he mentioned that he was a pastor, we opened only to see several men outside. We rushed into one of the rooms and hid ourselves on top of the ceiling. The attackers could not find us and landed on our spiritual grandmother, saying ‘let us kill her’ (but) another said ‘she was too old,” the Christian convert said.

He said Mrs Namuganza, sensing danger, pleaded with the attackers not to kill her because she was old.

“One assailant started beating and kicking her as she screamed for help. Another said, let us leave her – we’ll come back to look for the boys who mysteriously escaped,” he narrated further, adding that they came down from the ceiling after the attackers left.

The younger convert said, “When we realised that the assailants had gone, we then locked the door and made calls to friends who arrived immediately and our spiritual grandmother was rushed to a nearby clinic for treatment.

At the clinic, Namuganza was treated for back, rib and chest injuries before she was taken to a bigger hospital on September 21 for further medical attention while the converts were relocated by the local pastor.

Speaking on the incident, Namuganza, who have lost five of her eight children, said, “These boys were very helpful to me and lived with them in my house of four bedrooms.”

The pastor, on his part, said he would discuss the possibility of reporting the matter to the police after Namuganza’s health has improved.

The injured Namuganza and her husband had themselves converted to Christianity in 2010 during an evangelistic event in Iganga town and have since supported church workers and given refuge to new converts ostracised by their Muslim families.

 Muslims’ attack on Christians have been on the rise in recent time.

Morning Star News reports that Uganda operates a secular constitution, which allows citizens to freely associate the religion of their choice.

The newspaper said Muslims, who constitute merely 12 per cent of Ugandan population, are mostly found in the eastern region of the country.