22nd September, 2015
A 19-year-old woman from eastern Uganda whose parents have converted to Christianity was beaten and raped earlier this month, her attackers threatening to kill her because of her parents’ decision to leave Islam, according to reports.
The teenager, who was left unconscious and discovered by passersby the day after the attack involving three men, was still reportedly receiving treatment in hospital nine days after the incident in the Bukedea district.
“I tried to scream, but one blocked my mouth and another slapped me as they forcefully dragged me off the footpath,” Morning Star News quoted the woman as saying. “I heard one of them telling the others that I should be killed because my parents deserted Islam. But another said, “But we are not sure whether this girl is a Christian.””
Persecuted church group Release International said the attack had “worrying similarities” to an attack on a pastor’s daughter in the predominantly Muslim district of Budaka in east Uganda in April.
Morning Star News reported that the most recent attack came as another woman in Budaka, a mother of eight children, has claimed she had been forced to return to Islam after her in-laws threatened to kill her and take her children.
While the woman had maintained her faith after her husband left her 10 years ago following her conversion to Christianity, she said the most recent threats had forced her to return to Islam.
~ www.releaseinternational.org
– DAVID ADAMS