A Muslim in eastern Uganda on July 9 killed his wife for converting to Christianity that morning, a relative said.
Amina Nanfuka, 31, had returned from a medical check-up in Kampala and a visit to a worship service in the capital city to her home in Bugiri town, Bugiri District, where her husband, 40-year-old Abudullah Waiswa, had learned of her accepting Christ at the church, said the relative, whose name is withheld for security reasons.
Nanfuka had spent 10 days in June in Kampala to treat problems with her uterus, staying with a relative there who had accepted Christ in 2021. While recovering at her relative’s home, a pastor visited and prayed for her recovery.
Her doctor told her to return in three weeks, and the relative accompanied Nanfuka on her return to Bugiri. The relative shared the gospel with Nanfuka while staying with her during her recovery.
“I shared the saving power of Jesus, and she showed a desire to accept and to believe in Jesus but requested waiting for the day that the doctor in Kampala had given her for a check-up and thereafter attend the church,” the relative said.
On July 8, they returned to Kampala, leaving Nanfuka’s three children, ages 3, 6 and 9, with their grandmother. The next morning, they attended the church, where Nanfuka met with the pastor and received Christ as Lord and Savior, the relative said.
They had gone about 100 meters from the church site when Nanfuka showed the relative the Luganda-language Bible the pastor had given her. They were surprised when a businessman and close friend of her husband in Bugiri, his neighbor Ariko Yahaya, saw Nafuka give the Bible to the relative.
“You mean nowadays you go to church?” Yahaya asked Nanfuka, according to the relative, who said Nanfuka remained silent as they left immediately.
They arrived back in Bugiri at about 5 p.m., and Nanfuka’s husband arrived home at about 8 p.m. and knocked loudly on the door.
“Without greeting us, he started shouting at his wife saying, ‘Why did you lie to me that you were going for a medical check-up and instead decided to go to church?’” the relative said. “Amina was tongue-tied.”
Waiswa pulled her into their bedroom, locked the door and demanded that she show him the Bible, the relative said.
“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, the relative said.
“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.”
Police are searching for Waiswa, who has gone into hiding.
Nanfuka was buried at her father’s home in Eyingo village, where her children remain with their grandparents.
Waiswa had left his native Bubanyi village, Namayingo District, with his family in 2019 to relocate to Bugiri town for business.
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.
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