NAIROBI, Kenya — Hardline Muslims in eastern Uganda beat and stabbed an evangelist after he and his team led a Muslim widow to Christ during open-air Gospel preaching, sources said.
Robert Kasozi, a 39-year-old evangelist also known as Mulokole, was stabbed in the stomach, and three co-workers also were beaten in the attack in Kiwanga village, Goma Sub-County, Mukono District, a local source said.
The evangelists led a 75-year-old widow identified only as Hasifa to faith in Christ in a public prayer, infuriating a relative and a shopkeeper, said an area contact whose name is withheld for security reasons.
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“A relative of Hasifa named Jawadi and a shopkeeper saw all that took place — he came out of the shop and started shouting the Islamic slogan, ‘Inna lillahi wa Inna ilayhi raji’un [Indeed to Allah we belong and to him we shall return]’ and [jihadist slogan] ‘Allah akbar [Allah is greater],’” the source told Morning Star News.
Many Muslims gathered and started insulting the evangelists, she said.
“A Muslim came and attacked Kasozi, piercing him in the stomach with a knife,” the source said. “While other attackers were shouting, ‘You infidels, why do you come to spread a wrong message into our city — don’t you know that this city belongs to Muslims? Stop what you’re doing now, because for us we know that Jesus is not the Son of God but a messenger from God just like our prophet Muhammad.’
“Other Muslims started beating the three evangelists as Kasozi was lying in a pool of blood. They also grabbed their Bibles and tore them into pieces.”
The three other evangelists injured in the attack were Alice Nanduja, 27, James Bazanya (also known as Kyuma Kya Yesu) and Frank Biribawa, all from Bwikwe District, the source said.
Six milk sellers on motorcycles stopped and helped rescue the four Christians, and an area store security guard fired his pistol in the air, causing the assailants to flee.
Kasozi said he was taken to a hospital for treatment, where he was still recovering.
“I am going to file a case after leaving the hospital,” Kasozi said.
None of the assailants has been arrested, though some were known to area residents.
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 faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
This article was originally published at Morning Star News
Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.
