NAIROBI, Kenya — A Muslim who converted to Christianity and professed his faith in Jesus Christ was murdered for being the first in his family to renounce Islam.
Mohammed Nagi, 38, a father of five children, ages 4 to 15, in Uganda, converted to Christianity in March and was killed on Aug. 19 after a Muslim friend lured him to a village with the promise of work.
Nagi, along with his wife and children, had embraced Christianity after a pastor from a church in Mbale visited their home on March 2 and shared the Gospel, said Nagi’s wife, Katooko Nusula.
Two weeks later, the family began attending the pastor’s church (unidentified for security reasons), but soon after, a relative, along with one of Nagi’s friends, identified only as Rajabu, saw them near the worship site and questioned them.
“We did not respond to his question,” Nusula said. “When we realized that we were under surveillance, we decided to start attending another church.”
In July, Nagi’s brothers, parents and friends then confronted him about his reasons for not attending Friday prayers at the local mosque.
Nusula said they told her husband that he was “deserving to be killed, because ever since the creation of this world, they have never seen anybody becoming a Christian in the family and could not understand why anyone should forsake the true religion of Islam that came directly from heaven through [the Islamic] prophet Muhammad.”
At about 8 p.m. on Aug. 19, Nagi received a call from Rajabu, telling him to meet him at the Mailo 5 trading center in Nyanza South village, Nusula said.
“I heard the voice of Rajabu on the phone, the one who called my husband, telling him that he had got him a job which my husband was to do in the morning, but requested my husband to first meet that night so that he could give him all the details,” she told Morning Star News. “I told my husband to postpone that night’s meeting, but he told me that Rajabu said it was urgent and if they didn’t meet, he could lose the job offer.”
Nagi left immediately in order to secure the work, she said.
“We waited and waited as time started moving towards midnight,” Nusula said. “I tried to reach him on the phone, but it was all in vain. In the morning, a neighbor, Naisu Isima, saw my husband dead at around 6 a.m. and called me by phone.”
She reported the killing to police (Ref. No. CRB 070/2025) at Budaka central police station. Officers arrived at the scene, led by Kwebiiha Sarapio of Budaka police post.
“The body of the deceased was found with physical injuries on the head and was also dragged on a muddy road a distance of 20 meters,” Sarabio said. “There were no signs of strangling.”
The body was taken to Mbale City mortuary for a postmortem.
Rajabu, the prime suspect, has evaded arrest.
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 are supposed to protect religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
