By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) - Christians in eastern Uganda have been plunged into mourning after a Christian convert was killed for leaving Islam, several sources said.
Police from Kabango town, near the city of Masindi, reportedly recovered the body of Mustafa Obbo, burned beyond recognition.
The police had received a call that Muslim extremists had attacked him, reported Christian news agency Morning Star.
Brothers of the victim “lured him to a site” November 2 “more than six hours away from where they and other Muslim extremists killed him for leaving Islam, sources said.
Previously two of Obbo’s Muslim brothers, on October 19, already beat him and tried to kill him for this faith at their home in Tororo, eastern Uganda, according to Christians.
Police were said to be searching for the two brothers suspected of leading the killing of Obbo, who has not since been seen in Tororo. Officers took Obbo’s body to Masindi General Hospital for autopsy.
FAMILY VIOLENCE
Obbo’s brothers, father, and uncles beat him with sticks and threatened to kill him when he returned home to visit his ailing mother on October 19, he told Morning Star News at the time.
“But by grace, as they were sending someone for petrol to burn me up, a Toyota vehicle was approaching the homestead. When they saw the vehicle entering the compound, they took off each in his direction.”
A former sheik or Islamic teacher, Obbo had not returned home since threats and violence from relatives for leaving Islam drove him from the area in 2018.
He had converted to Christianity after a pastor told him about Christ, said Christian familiar with the case.
His killing was the latest of many reported cases of persecution of Christians in Uganda.
The crackdown has continued in several areas despite Uganda’s constitution and other laws claiming religious freedom, rights activists say.
Officially it is legal to propagate one’s faith and convert from one religion to another. Critics say, however, it has become increasingly tricky as Muslims comprise 12 percent of Uganda’s population, especially in eastern Uganda.