Tag: Acid attacks

Nigeria: Boko Haram survivor and her baby ‘shamed’

December 1, 2017 Nigeria Acid attacks, Boko Haram, Borno, Converts, Gwoza, Islamic extremism, Nigeria, Rape, Trauma, UN, West Africa, Women

Boko Haram survivor Esther*, holding her daughter Rebecca in her arms. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

As Islamic extremist group Boko Haram continues to hold young women captive in West Africa, some have been rescued only to return to their homes in shame, finding themselves labelled “Boko Haram women”. Until October 2015 Esther* lived the normal life of a 17-year-old in Gwoza, a town in southern . . . Read More

Tanzanian widow overcomes grief of husband’s murder during spate of church attacks in east Africa

March 15, 2017 Tanzania Acid attacks, Amselmo Mwangamba, Arusha, East Africa, Mwanza, Pentecostals, Tanzania, Zanzibar

“Widows often suffer great loneliness. After I lost Elias I feared that loneliness very much.” Three years on from husband Elias’ death, Mary Lunyamila Meshack recalls how her life changed forever the night he stood guard during an overnight service at their church in Mwanza, on the shores of Lake . . . Read More

Tanzanian teacher murdered in church, pastor and wife on Zanzibar attacked by extremists

October 21, 2014 Tanzania Acid attacks, Arusha, Bukoba, Censorship, East Africa, Islamic extremism, Kagera, Mwanza, Pentecostals, Tanzania, Zanzibar

Pastor Crodward Edwar (centre) at a press conference about the Bukoba murderHarakati News blog Unknown attackers killed a Christian man by machete and injured another in Bukoba in northwest Tanzania on Thursday, Oct. 9, according to sources. This followed another recent incident on Zanzibar island in which a pastor . . . Read More

Bombs heighten fears that Zanzibar autonomy movement targets Christians

March 13, 2014 Tanzania Acid attacks, Islamic extremism, Seventh-day Adventists, Stone Town, Tanzania, Zanzibar

A series of bomb blasts in Tanzania’s island of Zanzibar is stoking fears that an Islamist breakaway movement is increasingly targeting Christians. Since 2010, the cases have been on the increase and Christians and their leaders — many of them originally from mainland Tanzania — say they are anxious. In . . . Read More

Catholic priest victim of latest Zanzibar acid attack

September 17, 2013 Tanzania Acid attacks, Amselmo Mwangamba, Catholics, Islamic extremism, Stone Town, Tanzania, Zanzibar

An elderly Catholic priest has been the victim of an acid attack in Zanzibar. Amselmo Mwangamba was attacked on Friday (September 13) and is now in hospital receiving treatment to burns on his face, chest and arms. This is the fifth acid attack on the island since November, according to . . . Read More

Doctors try to save remaining eye of Ugandan pastor

February 28, 2012 Uganda Acid attacks, Jinja, Kampala, Mbale, Uganda

While a Ugandan pastor was fighting to retain sight in his remaining eye after an acid attack, Muslim extremists this month were shooting at his close friend, a leader of another church. Doctors at Sheba Hospital in Tel-Aviv, Israel, are still not sure what kind of chemicals Muslim extremists cast . . . Read More

Former Muslim extremist in Uganda flees wrath of ex-colleagues

January 27, 2012 Uganda Acid attacks, Islamic extremism, Kampala, Kenya, Uganda

A former member of a Muslim extremist group in Uganda who converted to Christianity is in hiding in Kenya, his movements severely restricted following threats to kill him. Hassan Sharif Lubenga, 54, was a sheikh and member of the Buk Haram, a violent group of Islamists whose name suggests the . . . Read More

Muslim extremists in Uganda throw acid on bishop

December 28, 2011 Uganda Acid attacks, East Africa, Jinja, Kadhi courts, Kampala, Sharia, Uganda

Islamic extremists threw acid on a church leader on Christmas Eve shortly after a seven-day revival at his church, leaving him with severe burns that have blinded one eye and threaten sight in the other. Bishop Umar Mulinde, 37, a sheikh (Islamic teacher) before his conversion to Christianity, was attacked . . . Read More

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