Christian woman in Uganda says she was raped and beaten for testifying against an imam
A Christian woman is in serious condition after being raped and badly beaten by Muslims in Eastern Uganda as an act of retribution following their imam's imprisonment for her testimony that the mosque leader killed her father.
The 22-year-old woman, whose name remains hidden, was found unconsciously lying in a pool of blood and with cuts on her body. She said three Muslims raped and beat her up on the evening of April 19 at her home in Kanginima village, Pallisa District. This was after she boldly identified and testified in court that Sheikh Musana Ibrahim, the imam of a mosque in Kanyumu village, Pallisa District, was the one who killed her father, Samson Makuma, on Jan. 28.
Two other Muslims were accomplices to the killing of her father but since she was not able to identify them in court, they were released and now only the imam is held in prison. "I was able to identify the sheikh because we are neighbors, and my father had been questioning him about the Islamic faith not leading one to salvation with God," she told Morning Star News. "The sheikh had said to him, 'You have no respect of our religion, and we have come for your life today.' They started strangling my father as well as hitting him on the head with a big stick. When my father fell down, I managed to escape through the window."
Autopsy reports indicate that Makuma's death was due to homicide. The imam is currently held in Kamuge cell until the court decision is released. Pallisa Police Officer Otwai Francis is in charge of the case.
The woman recalled the words said to her by one of the men who assaulted her, "We shall kill you today because you are the one who made our sheikh to be imprisoned." She is still being treated for what happened to her and requires medication for the next three months. Having no one to care for her — she is an only child and her mother has passed away five years ago — the young woman has since been taken in and cared for by an elder in an undisclosed church.
