UGANDA: Young Christian Woman Killed by Muslim Family Member

On 29 March, the Muslim brother of a 19-year-old woman in eastern Uganda killed her for putting her faith in Christ.

Namukuve Sawuya had come to faith through a Christian Union Fellowship at her high school, according to sources.

When her father, 60-year-old Alhaji Muzamiru, noticed she was not attending Muslim prayer times during Ramadan, he became angry and called her and her six siblings together at their home. Her father asked her why she had not attended the prayers, the source said.

According to sources, “Namukuve kept quiet for a while and later replied that she had converted to Prophet Issa [Jesus Christ]. This angered her elder brother, Abdul Rahim Munaabi, and he got hold of a wooden chair and hit her on the head. She cried out once, saying, ‘Oh Mum’, and then stopped breathing.” Her mother was away checking on a relative who was ill in a neighbouring village.

Namukuve’s body was removed from the house and dumped in a swamp near the local river. Rice farmers in the swamp discovered the body and informed the police. Officers took it to a mortuary for an autopsy and were investigating the crime. Namukuve’s body, abandoned in the mortuary, was buried on hospital land, the source said.