Nigerian mob stones woman for evangelizing

IZOM, Nigeria — Local church leaders said Muslim extremists overwhelmed police officers providing refuge for an unidentified Christian woman in the town of Izom in Nigeria’s Niger state June 28 and stoned and clubbed her to death for doing street evangelism. David Atabo of the Roman Catholic Church in Izom said he witnessed the killing of the woman. He told Compass Direct news service that she had met a group of Muslim youths, shared the gospel with them and gave them tracts.

When nearby Muslim elders learned that the woman had preached to the youths, he said, they claimed she insulted the prophet of Islam, Mohammed, and ordered that she be killed. Police rescued her and took her into protective custody, but a mob stormed the police station.

“The police, realizing that the Muslim crowd was overwhelming, smuggled the woman through a back door to escape with her, but the Muslims blocked all escape routes, and at this point the police abandoned the woman to save their lives,” Atabo said. “She was clubbed to death.”