A 37-year-old Christian convert in eastern Uganda was killed by members of his family on Friday 18 July after they forced their way into his home and located him praying within the name of Jesus, based on local sources.
Kasajja Abdul Maliki of Kaliro village, Kaliro District, had locked himself in his house during Friday mosque service to wish and study the Bible, a practice he had maintained since his conversion to Christianity in April.
His niece, Shamina, told Morning Star News that on the day of the attack, relatives heard Maliki praying loudly contained in the house “within the name of Issa [Jesus], petitioning Issa to avoid wasting the relations”.
“I then alerted the relations about Maliki’s strange way of praying, who hurriedly went to his house,” said Shamina, daughter of Maliki’s older brother Lubega Kalimu. “They found the home locked as Maliki was still praying. They pushed the door very hard and got inside and located Maliki still praying with the Bible placed beside him.”
According to Shamina, the relatives then “picked up the Bible and tore it to pieces”. She described how “as we were contained in the house, other family members arrived and were so offended and began shouting the Islamic slogan ‘Allah Akbar’ [God is greater] and started striking Maliki with kicks and blows”.
“Soon more family members arrived with knives and sticks led by my father, Kalimu, and Sempa Arafat,” she said.
Maliki screamed for help because the violence escalated. However, Shamina claims her father showed no mercy towards Maliki and “with a pointy knife pierced him through his chest”.
Neighbours arrived but were unable to avoid wasting him. One said, “We tried to rescue Maliki, however it was too late to avoid wasting his life, and he died on his technique to a close-by clinic.”
Maliki got here to faith during an evangelistic event held from 9 to 12 April in Kaliro town. A neighborhood pastor, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said, “After the campaign I took him to my house and discipled him in Christian teachings for every week, and thereafter he returned back to his home.”
Since converting, Maliki had attended evening Bible study meetings twice a month on Fridays and monthly welding training sessions organised by the church. The pastor added, “Since his conversion in April, Maliki had gained enough skills in welding, and we as a church were planning to start out for him a small business in Kaliro town.”
Family members had grown suspicious after noticing Maliki’s absence from mosque prayers. Every week before his death, a Muslim neighbour informed relatives that he had seen Maliki leaving a church compound.
While Uganda’s structure guarantees freedom of faith, including the appropriate to convert and propagate one’s faith, converts from Islam, particularly in eastern Uganda, face serious threats. Muslims account for roughly 12 per cent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations within the east.
Maliki’s killing adds to a growing variety of documented attacks against Christian converts in Uganda lately.
At the time Morning Star News broke the story of the killing, no arrests had been made.
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