A Muslim man in eastern Uganda killed his wife for converting to Christianity, Morning Star News has reported.
Amina Nanfuka, 31, had just returned to their home in Bugiri town, Bugiri District, from a medical check-up in Kampala on July 9, when she was slain.
She had spent 10 days in Kampala in June for medical treatment of her uterus, staying with a relative there who had accepted Christ in 2021. The relative shared the Gospel with her during her stay.
“I shared the saving power of Jesus, and she showed a desire to accept and to believe in Jesus,” said the relative, whose name is withheld for security reasons. But Amina wanted to wait until she came back in three weeks for her medical checkup and could visit a church.
So her relative accompanied her home to Bugiri, and on July 8 they left Bugiri to return to Kampala for the doctor visit, leaving Amina’s three children, ages 3, 6 and 9, with their grandmother. The next morning, they attended a church, where Amina met with the pastor and received Christ as Lord and Savior.
They had gone about 100 meters from the church site when Amina showed her relative the Luganda-language Bible the pastor had given her. They were surprised when about that same time they saw a businessman and close friend of her husband near by. The man, Ariko Yahaya, their neighbor in Bugiri, saw Amina show the Bible to her relative.
“You mean nowadays you go to church?” Yahaya asked her. They left immediately, with Amina remaining silent, and arrived back in Bugiri about 5 p.m.
Abudullah Waiswa, 40, arrived home at about 8 p.m. and knocked loudly on his wife’s door. He had learned of her accepting Christ at the church, the relative said.
Without any greeting, he started shouting at his wife. “Why did you lie to me that you were going for a medical check-up and instead decided to go to church?”
“Amina was tongue-tied,” said the relative, who watched as Waiswa pulled Amina into their bedroom, locked the door and demanded that she show him the Bible.
“Immediately I heard a loud bang inside with kicks and slaps,” the relative said. “She started screaming and calling for help. I feared for my life and rushed outside the room shouting and wailing for help.”
As neighbors approached, Waiswa came out of the house and disappeared.
“We then went inside the bedroom and found her unconscious with blood coming out of her mouth,” the relative said. “She was rushed to a nearby clinic in Bugiri, but soon the doctor pronounced her dead upon arrival. She was strangled and hit with an object around her mouth.
“I suspect that Ariko Yahaya informed Waiswa of us attending the church in Kampala.”
As police searched for Waiswa, Amina was buried at her father’s home in Eyingo village, where her children remain with their grandparents.
The killing was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.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, yet Muslim persecution of Christians has been rising.
DSom/Newsom