Christians make up around 85% of Uganda’s population (there is a tiny minority of around 35,000 Orthodox Christians in that nation). In Uganda, Christian persecution generally does not involve government and law enforcement action, such as what we see in many other countries. Instead, converts to Christianity and Christians who proselytize are often targeted and harassed.
For previous coverage of Christian persecution in Uganda, see here.
“Muslim Father Kills Son for His Christian Faith, Sources Say,” Morning Star News, August 19, 2021:
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – The Muslim father of a 20-year-old convert to Christianity in Uganda on Sunday (Aug. 15) killed him for refusing to recant his faith, sources said.
Kasimu Kawona of Bupalama village, Buseta Sub-County in Kibuku District was not charged with murder but a lesser charge of manslaughter because he killed his son in anger for leaving Islam, sources said.
His son, Tabiruka Tefiiro, put his faith in Christ in 2019. At that time his father drove him from their home, and he went to Kampala, where he worked in a hotel, relatives said. His mother later spent several months trying to convince him to return home to reconcile with his father, which Tefiiro resisted until consenting to come back on Aug. 1.
His father was away from home until Saturday (Aug. 14), when he called a family meeting to question Tefiiro about whether he had come back to Islam, relatives said.
“I am mature enough to join any religion that I feel like because I am above 18 years old,” Tefiiro told him, according to Jamila Baluka, Kawona’s sister. “I want to confirm that I am saved by the grace of God. I can’t renounce my Christian faith now or in the future.”
Kawona became angry but remained silent as he left the house, she said.
Another relative said that the next day, Kawona returned with a knife and hoe and started hitting Tefiiro, who managed to escape to a neighbor’s house.
“He followed Tefiiro and forcefully entered the house and removed him back to the homestead, where he tied him up and started beating him with the hoe,” said the relative, whose identity is withheld for security reasons. “He fell down unconscious. He then hanged him up.”
The wailing of Tefiiro’s mother and other relatives at the home where Kawona had hung his son with a rope by the neck brought neighbors rushing to the home, sources said.
“When I arrived at Kawona’s house with other neighbors, we found the father outside the house,” the area chairperson, Hassan Kwiri, told Morning Star News. “He told us that he had killed his son who had disgraced the Islamic religion by becoming a Christian.”…
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.
