A Muslim high school student in Uganda stabbed his brother to death this month a day after he converted to Christianity, sources said.
Akram Kairoki, a third-year student at Mbale High School in Mbale city, twice knifed his brother Shafiki Wasike on Sept. 1 shortly before they arrived at the school, sources said. Wasike was 19.
“Why should my brother stab me – I have done nothing wrong to him. It is only changing my faith and joining the Christian faith,” the bleeding Wasike said before succumbing to his injuries, according to classmate Jonathan Kabaale.
Wasike, of Bujoloto village in Nkoma Ward, Mbale City, had put his faith in Christ after attending an open-air evangelistic event on Aug. 31, which included a Christian-Islam debate, said Pastor David Wabomba of Bible Evangelism Ministries.
Pastor Wabomba had debated a Muslim identified as Sheik Abudallah at the event. Kairoki learned about his brother’s conversion from a Muslim neighbor who had attended the debate, the pastor said.
“I spent a few hours guiding Wasike on the way of salvation and inviting him to church the following Sunday,” Pastor Wabomba told Morning Star News. “Wasike was very happy before we parted ways. After three hours, Wasike called me by phone and said that his brother was sending some threatening message to him about being an embarrassment to the family and the Muslim faithful, hence risking his life.”
When Wasiki returned home that evening, his brother angrily told him that he must understand that in their home they do not accept the practice of two religions and that he should denounce Christianity immediately, Pastor Wabomba learned from him.
While Wasike and his brother Kairoki were on their way to school on Sept. 1, just before arriving Kairoki removed a knife from his bag and stabbed Wasike in the chest and again near ribs on his left side, the pastor said. Wasike’s cries drew three students who found him screaming and calling for help, classmate Kabaale said.
The three students – Kabaale, Ronald Mukhwana and John Michael Musamali – immediately called for motorcycle transport that rushed him to a hospital.
Wasike succumbed to his injuries at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.
Kairoki went into hiding, but police from Mbale city mounted an intensive search and arrested him within a few days; he has been charged with murder, the pastor said.
“Our team had been tracing him in several areas of Busoga and Buganda, but we finally got him in Nakwigalo Cell, Busolwe Town Council, Butaleja District,” said police spokesperson Rogers Taitika of Elgon Region in Eastern Uganda. “He is now in our custody at Mbale City Police station and will be paraded before court soon.”
Taitika thanked the community for providing information that led to the arrest of Kairoki.
“As police, we want to remind the public that anyone above 15 years can be paraded in court to answer for criminal charges,” he said.
Wasike was laid to rest at the family’s ancestral home in Kabwagasi Town Council. Pastor Wabomba conducted the funeral service on Sept. 8. He told Morning Star News that family and clan members refused to touch the body, saying Wasike had become an infidel.
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.
