A former Muslim in eastern Uganda who put his faith in Christ in March was lured to his death on Aug. 19, sources said.
Mohammed Nagi of Nyanza South village, Nyanza parish, Mugiti Sub-County, Budaka District, was killed in Kamonkoli village after a Muslim friend lured him there with a promise of work. Father of five children ages 4 to 15, Nagi was 38.
Nagi and his family had embraced the Christian faith 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 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 they became aware of rumors circulating that they had begun attending the other church. Rajabu questioned her husband about why he was missing Friday mosque prayers, and then Nagi’s brothers and parents confronted him.
Nusula said they told him 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 prophet Muhammad.”
At about 8 p.m. on Aug. 19, Nagi received a call from Rajabu, telling him to meet him at 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 and give him all the details,” she told Morning Star News. “He persuaded him that phone conversation was not enough. But I told my husband to postpone the night meeting. But he told me that Rajabu had indicated the urgency of meeting him lest he loses the job.”
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 phone, but all was 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 postmortem.
Rajabu has since gone missing, and police are searching for him as a prime suspect for the murder of Nagi.
His widow said their five children are ages 4, 7, 9, 12 and 15.
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.
