Christian widow murdered for refusing to give her land for mosque; Muslim woman kills infant baby fed during Ramadan

A Muslim grandmother in Uganda allegedly poisoned her infant granddaughter in the name of Ramadan while a Christian woman who had refused a Muslim mosque on her property was found dead.

The first victim was the infant daughter of 24-year-old Angel Nabirye, a Christian living in Busandha village, Kiloba Parish, Bukanga Sub-County in Luuka District. Nabirye said her Muslim mother-in-law, Nubu Kiiza, rebuked her for eating food with her baby during the fasting hours of Ramadan. Nabirye explained to her that she needed to breastfeed her baby who was unwell. The grandmother, who apparently didn't think the explanation was acceptable, visited them on the morning of June 17.

"She brought some herbs for my baby, Saidha Namwase, which I gave her," Nabirye told Morning Star News. "After three hours, the condition of the baby worsened, and I rushed her to Iganga Hospital, but she was pronounced dead on arrival at 4 p.m."

She also said that tests conducted by the doctor revealed that her baby had died from poison.

Nabirye suffered further from her husband and in-laws' rebuke and physical attacks after she delayed her baby's burial to wait for her Christian relatives to arrive. The Muslims also served Nabirye and her Christian relatives, who arrived later that night, a tea with chloroform that induced them to fall asleep as the Muslims snatched the baby's dead body away.

Police arrested Nabirye's husband and in-laws as well as an imam.

A Ramadan-related violence also happened in early June when a Muslim father burned his 9-year-old son, who became a Christian convert.

The second victim, a 50-year-old childless widow Catholic woman named Efranse Kadondo from Naigobya village, Kiyunga Sub-County, also in Luuka district, died June 23 after resisting pressure from Muslim relatives and imams to apportion her land for a Muslim mosque. Six days earlier, she had filed a case to the police in Lakabuku for illegal seizure of her land.

A source who spoke in anonymity recounted to Morning Star News what Kadondo told one of her Muslim relatives who pressured her, Zainabu Kasubuza.

The source quoted Kadondo as telling him, "I told Zainabu that if I have to surrender part of my land, then I will give it to the Catholic Church. This angered Zainabu, who forcefully chased me away with some imams who had accompanied him."

Police arrested at least six Muslim villagers for Kadondo's murder as other accomplices already escaped.