A formerly Muslim couple in eastern Uganda, parents of four young children, were slashed to death on Feb. 2, two months after putting their faith in Christ, sources said.
Twaha Namwoyo, 38, and his 27-year-old wife, Nadiimu Katooko, were slain for their faith outside their house in Bulalaka village, Saala Parish, Kibuku Sub-County, Kibuku District, a neighbor said.
“I heard people talking and conversing loudly in Arabic and the Lugwere language, saying that Twaha is to reap the fruits of leaving Islam,” the neighbor told Morning Star News on condition of anonymity. “After a few minutes, I heard loud wailing coming out of Twaha’s house.”
The neighbor, a Christian, said his family locked the doors of their home, “not knowing our fate. We kept awake the whole night in great fear. But thank God the attackers did not come to our house.”
Officers from the Kibuku central police station arrived and found the bodies with deep cuts, and that of Namwoyo with a swollen neck, possibly indicating strangulation. Their mutilated bodies were found outside, and the children – ages 7, 5, 3 and 2 – were locked inside the house, sources said.
Police found several long Somali swords, knives and an axe at the scene, likely left as a warning to other Muslims considering conversion to Christianity, the neighbor said.
Kibuku central police registered case No. CRB/10/2024 as a homicide.
The neighbor did not recognize the assailants due to the darkness and said they could have been both local residents and outsiders. Many Muslims in Uganda speak Arabic.
The couple had converted at a Christian center in Nampido village, said a friend who led them to faith.
“After visiting and praying with the family of Namwoyo for about six months, later my labor in Christ became a turning point for them to receive Jesus Christ on Dec. 5, 2023,” the friend said. “I continued discipling them in the Christian doctrines, but cautioned them to remain secret in their new-founded Christian faith.”
The attack 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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