Evangelist Hassan Muwanguzi, a lay leader with the Church of Uganda and a resident of Budaka district, eastern Uganda was arrested by Police when a Muslim cleric accused him of kidnapping his adult daughter.
This happened when the accuser’s daughter took refuge with the Preacher after leaving Islam.
In an effort to defame Hassan Muwanguzi and stir up Islamist sentiment against him, the accuser, Nghangha Mubakali told Police authorities that his daughter had been kidnapped by the preacher for human sacrifice.
Muwanguzi told Journalists that Namusisi Budadu Biryeri, 21, had taken refuge with him after her father beat her for putting her faith in Christ.
“I brought Namusisi into my house after receiving messages that she was badly beaten, and that she needed support due to her newly founded faith in Christ,” said Muwanguzi. “But now I am falsely charged and being threatened by many Muslims who want to kill me because of the message that has gone all over that I am kidnapping and sacrificing people’s lives in the name of converting them to Christianity.”
According to Persecution watchdog and aid organization Morning Star News, Muwanguzi said he was at his home in Kabuna village, Budaka District leading a Bible study with former Muslims when he saw a group of armed police officers enter his compound at about 10 a.m.
“One told me, ‘You are under arrest because of kidnapping and sacrificing Namusisi Budadu Biryeri,” he said. “I was not given time to say anything, but there and then they pulled me out of the house and handcuffed me, then took me to Budaka Central Police Station.”
Officers held him there for one hour, and then took him to Tirinyi police station and filed a case against him, he said.
“Reaching there, they told me to make a statement,” he said. “I told them that the alleged sacrificed girl is still alive, and that she is at school doing a tailoring course in Mbale town.”
It is reported that Detective Ismail Mabonga, a police assistant identified only as Agaba, a detective identified only as Sgt. Bisaso, and a Nauyo Police Officer-in-Charge identified only as Tai in Mbale took Muwanguzi and Biryeri’s father to the training center where Mubakali’s daughter was studying sewing.
Finding the Child alive, the officers questioned her about her faith, and she replied that she was no longer a Muslim.
“My father mistreated me when I converted to Christianity,” Biryeri told police. “I was beaten badly and then sent away from home, and Hassan Muwanguzi housed me.”
Mubakali declined to comment on the case to Journalists. His daughter said she heard him say to Muwanguzi, “We are going to fight hard until we destroy everything you are doing.”
When the Preacher was released on bail Friday (3rd March), the Islamic leader urged village Muslims to kill him, an area source said.
Muwanguzi, a married father of six children ranging in age from 2 to 14, expected police to release him soon, but he said the kidnapping charge could remain or later resurface.
Immediately after Muwanguzi’s release, the Local Council Three (LC3) chairman of Kabuna Sub-County held an emergency meeting to address tensions expected to rise in the area between Muslims and Christians. Sheikh Bunyolo made his pronouncements to the Muslim gathering in spite of the LC3 chairman’s admonition to the community to refrain from inciting violence.
“I need a lawyer in this case and government protection,” he said. “I also need support for food and accommodation or shelter at this trying moment.”
Several other persecuted Christians have taken refuge with Muwanguzi as their lives were in danger for having left Islam, he said.
Something to note as well, Evangelist Muwanguzi became a Christian in 2003, after conversion from Islam.
His family immediately kicked him out of their home, and enraged Muslims beat him, he said.
He was hospitalized on March 31, 2014 in Mbale after a Muslim aunt who called a family gathering in Kadimukoli village, Budaka District, allegedly put insecticide in his tea because relatives were upset at his conversion to Christianity. He received advanced treatment for the poisoning and has largely recovered.
He has suffered repeated persecution, including losing a daughter to an Islamic extremist attack on Jun 16, 2014.
aaron@ugchristiannews.com
