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Uganda: Christian Father Murdered for Leaving Islam

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian father was murdered by Islamic extremists in eastern Uganda earlier this month, after he and his wife received death threats for leaving Islam and putting his faith in Christ, Morning Star News reports.

James Mukenye Habiibu, 29, converted to Christianity together with his wife in January 2022. He was found stabbed to death in Kagumu Sub-County, Kibuku District, Uganda on December 17. Habiibu leaves behind three children, ages 2, 4, and 7, MSN reports.

Habibu’s wife, whose name is withheld for security reasons, told MSN that his relatives began threatening them after they became Christians. “The whole family threatened to kill us if we continued with the Christian faith,” she said.
One message left for Habib by a relative read: “Soon we are going to behead you and get a big reward from Allah,” Habibu’s wife said.

Habibu was last heard on December 16 when he left his home for a gospel outreach with another evangelist from a Presbyterian church in Buseta.
“At about 7:30 p.m. I received a call from my husband telling me of people who have been following/tracking him for about half an hour and requesting prayers,” his wife said. “Since then, there was no communication from him.”

The next morning his wife was told Habibu had been killed. “A neighbor escorted me, and when we arrived at the scene of the incident, I found my husband lying in a pool of blood,” she said.

“The attack was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented,” MSN said in its report. “Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.”