Two evangelists severely beaten in eastern Uganda

Two Christians were on their way to preach Christ in Iganga town, eastern Uganda on May 28 when they took a wrong turn.

Tenywa Herbert, 34, and 30-year-old Mukisa Siraji had led several Muslims to Christ in other communities, including some rural imams, or mosque leaders. Deciding to share the gospel where they had mistakenly arrived along the Iganga-Kaliro road, they began a street outreach at about 6 p.m., reading from both the Quran and the Bible, Siraji said.

“We landed among some angry Muslims who were hunting for me,” Siraji told Morning Star News. “Before completing our message, one sheikh called Jaberi, the imam of one of the mosques in Kaliro, who had a big beard, ordered other Muslims to beat us and get Jannah (Paradise). We were grabbed and flogged publicly until my leg was hit with a hammer, and it got broken totally.”

After beating them, the assailants forced them into their vehicle and drove them to Buseyi village, he said.

“They threw us around Buseyi village, where a good Samaritan found us and took us to Iganga Hospital,” Siraji said. “He contacted our home people, and the pastors and other Christians came and took us to a specialist in Kumi, where we are getting treatment now.”

The attackers tore their Bibles and tracts to pieces and destroyed them, he added.

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 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.