A 19-year-old girl in Lwangoli, Busoba sub-county, Mbale district, suffered horrendous burns on 21st July, 2024 at the hands of her Muslim father over her decision to leave the family religion and put her faith in Jesus Christ. This is according to USA-based persecution watchdog Morning Star News (MSN).
The unfortunate incident happened 6 days after Naasike Maliyati had attended a gospel crusade with her friend during the course of her visit to her grandmother.
“When they called people to give their lives to Christ, I also went and prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,” Maliyati, a student at Noor Islamic Institute in Mbale, revealed during an interview with Morning Star News.
“When I went back home, I told my sister that I had left Islam. She went and told our dad of my conversion to Christianity,” she said.
When Maliyati’s father, 44-year-old Abdulrahim Kutosi, a resident of Nampologoma, Butaleja District heard the news, he got furious.
The following Sunday Maliyati attended a church service, and upon returning home found her father and uncles angry with her.
“They tied me up, beat me, and finally my dad picked up a hot flat iron and hot water and burned me and shouted loudly that I was an embarrassment to the family,” Maliyati told Morning Star News.
She continued, “I was burnt for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, as my father furiously continued shouting that I had ashamed the family. He continued saying that even Allah is annoyed with me as the pain continued inside my body.”
Maliyati’s father order her to stop attending church services before her other relatives put her on a motorbike and left her near the Namatala River, she said. A Christian on a motorcycle who happened by, Nicolas Ndobooli, rescued her.
“I saw someone yelling for help and calling, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!’” Ndobooli told Morning Star News. “Being a Christian, I decided to stop and took the risk and put her on my motorbike to the clinic.”
He paid 30,000 Uganda shillings to admit her for medical treatment, he said.
Area Christians have condemned Kutosi’s cruel treatment of his daughter, according to Morning Star News.
For more, please email editor@morningstarnews.org
