A new report details the tragic story from Uganda, where a teenager who became a Christian was locked away and starved almost to death by his Muslim parents as a punishment for his conversion.
The Christian convert's father, Musobya Aramanzani of Nankoma, learned that his son had been converted to Christianity while at a boarding school in Iganga earlier this year. When he found out, he locked his 17-year-old boy in his room for four months as he slowly starved, according to a local missions group.
The pastor learned of the abuse on Sept. 15 during evangelistic home visits in Nankoma. He said the previous day Aramanzani did not allow him and other Christians engaged in an evangelistic campaign that week to enter his property, and the team learned from area residents that he had locked his son inside for more than four months for converting to Christianity.
On September 15, the team returned to the home and pleaded with the father, who relented and gave the group five minutes to pray for the family.
While they were praying, the group began to smell a foul odor coming from the house and forced their way inside.
"Since we were many, we forcefully entered the inner room where the smell was coming from and found a teenage boy in a dilapidated state," said the pastor.
At the hospital, the pastor said, the boy was able to utter only a few words about his mistreatment. The pastor said he learned from his mother that she had provided him with water while he was locked up.
"The mother used to sneak in with only water, but when her son fell sick, she didn't bring him medicine but insulted him by calling him an infidel to the family religion, and that he should die," the pastor told Morning Star News.
According to the pastors, after the group talked to the father and prayed with the family while their son was taken to the hospital, the father, Aramanzani, actually put his faith in Christ, repenting of his mistreatment of his son and of other sins.
"He persuaded us not to report the incident to the police," the pastor said. "The situation at the moment is very delicate, because the father risks to be arrested, and at the same time he is a new Christian. We first need to treat the suffering young man, then later discuss with the family the next course of action."
Pray for this young man, and that God would use this tragedy to bring more people in Uganda to Him.
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