Zubeda Nabirye after treatment for assault in Bugiri District’s Matovu village, eastern Uganda. Credit: Morning Star News (MSN)
A 38-year-old mother of three in Bugiri district was forced to drink a toxic pesticide and beaten unconscious by her Muslim husband when he found two Bibles in her suitcase.
Zubeda Nabirye had secretly renounced Islam and put her faith in Christ on 21 August, 2020 after learning about Him over several months from a pastor.
On the day of the unfortunate incident, 21 Nov. 2020, Nabirye’s husband, Umar Kyakulaga asked her why she had the two Bibles, one in English and the other in her tribal language.
“I replied to him that a friend had given me the Bibles, and that I was using it to compare it with what is written in the Koran, and after all religion is a matter of personal choice. I was convicted and decided to embrace Christianity,” she said.
Nabirye was speaking during an interview with U.S based persecution watchdog Morning Star News (MSN).
MSN reports that Zubeda’s husband grew angry and picked up a copy of the Koran and began reading verses that allowed men to beat their wives if they disobey them.
“He started beating me with slaps and sticks,” she said. “As if this was not enough, he forced me to take Dithane M-45.” In humans, this pesticide is known to cause adverse health effects.
Zubeda tried not to swallow the substance, but ingested some as her husband tried to strangle her, hitting her leg with sticks. He also injured her chest, neck and thigh, according to Morning Star News.
This website understands that the couple had left their three children with Nabirye’s mother-in-law due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus no one else was home when Nabirye lost consciousness.
“It was around 10 p.m. when I regained consciousness and found myself surrounded by neighbors,” she told MSN.
Neighbors told the media source they heard crying and wailing at Nabirye’s home, but that by the time they made it there, the place was empty.
“While we were going back, we heard groaning from a nearby banana plant, and there we found Zubeda Nabirye, who had just regained her consciousness but with vomit and blood all over her body,” one of the neighbors said. “We then arranged for her transportation to the hospital near her home in Kaliro.”
Nabirye stated she suspects her husband took her to the banana plants expecting she would die there.
A relative said Nabirye would not file charges with police over the assault as it could provoke further violence.
She was discharged from the medical clinic on Dec. 2.
“She still looks very weak and asks about the wellbeing of her three children, MSN says. Her children are ages 16, 13 and 9.
“I am worried about my children, who are under the care of my mother-in-law,” Nabirye said. “I know it will be very difficult for me to see them and reunite with them.”
This development recorded in the eastern region of Uganda is the latest of many instances of brutal attacks on Christian converts from Islam that Uganda Christian News has profiled.
Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another.
