A Muslim father attacked his son after the child converted to Christianity. ( Robin Yamaguchi/Flickr/Creative Commons )

It was a terrifying scene as a Muslim tied up his own son and burned him. The boy's crime: Converting to Christianity, according to a report.

The father also starved Nassif Malagara for two days before the 9-year-old sneaked out and a neighbor fed him.

Nassif converted to Christianity earlier this month, according to Morning Star News, after he went to church in another village in Uganda.

"At the end of the service, Nassif remained behind and then followed me to the church's pastry room and requested that he wanted to receive Jesus as his personal savior," the pastor of the church told Morning Star News. "I was a bit hesitant, but after his continuous press, I then prayed with him, and he left."

But then the persecution began.

"He started beating me up with sticks, but I managed to escape to a nearby bush," Nassif said. "My father then followed me and got hold of me back to the homestead, where he tied me up to a banana tree. He went into the house and came back with a hot piece of wood. The banana tree had dry leaves, which caught fire and caused serious burns on my body."

Neighbors rescued Nassif and delivered him to a nearby hospital where he is recovering.

Muslims only make up 12.1 percent of the Ugandan population, according to the CIA World Factbook, while 42 percent of the population is Protestant and 41 percent is Roman Catholic.

Yet persecution persists.

"The main point of contention between Muslims and Christians in Uganda is that Muslims are yet to embrace the reality of freedom of worship or coexistence, but Muslims always think that any person who doesn't believe like them is an enemy who deserves to be killed," says Evelyn Mulinde, who also converted from Islam.

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