Uganda: Christian convert beaten, strangled by Muslim intruders

Sources said that NAIROBI, Kenya — A former Islamic teacher remains hospitalized after Muslim extremists in eastern Uganda beat him unconscious for converting to Christianity.

Shaquru Ndifuna, 33, was receiving treatment for blood loss at a medical clinic in Iganga town in the district of the same name, area Christians said.

A former Islamic teacher at Noor Islamic Institute in Mayuge District, Ndifuna, is a resident of Kaliro Town Council, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Iganga town. In January, he put his faith in Christ at an open-air evangelistic event in Namutumba, 39 kilometers from Iganga town.

Word of his conversion spread, and a cleric at the Noor Islamic Mosque began monitoring his movements. Finally, in April, three Islamic leaders visited him at his home, said an area Christian unnamed for security reasons.

“They questioned me about my absence as a teacher at Noor Mosque,” Ndifuna told Morning Star News. “I tried to explain to them about my other commitments elsewhere. Finally, one mentioned my becoming a Christian, but I did not respond. Afterward, the three Muslim leaders left.”

At 7:30 p.m. on May 2, he said four Muslims intruded into his house.

“They forcefully entered the house, shouting about me having blasphemed the Islamic religion and trying to force me to confess that Jesus is not the Son of God and that Allah is the only God to be worshiped and Muhammad is His prophet,” Ndifuna said. “I refused to renounce Jesus as the Son of God. They started beating me up.”

The source said that his wife and three children hid in a bedroom, and his wife telephoned a family friend, saying that the assailants were beating him unconscious and that he had lost a lot of blood.

“The attackers have left; I think they thought my husband is dead — they did not touch his phone nor any property,” his wife told the friend, according to the source.

The source said that the friend drove to their home, took Ndifuna to a nearby medicine shop for first aid, and later transferred him to the clinic in Iganga.

“Please take care of my children; I am not sure whether I will survive,” Ndifuna told Morning Star News at the hospital. “The Muslims who injured me were trying to force me to return to Islam, but I refused.”

Ndifuna suffered a deep cut on the right side of the forehead, a fracture in his right hand, and a neck injury as the assailants tried to strangle him, the source said. In addition, his vision has been affected, and he has difficulty breathing.

“He can’t swallow solid food,” the source said. “He is using a drip of intravenous fluids with a little juice for survival.”

The attack was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.

Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one religion to another. However, Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.