A judge in Uganda this month sentenced five Muslims to death for killing two Christian evangelists in 2024, sources said.
Three other Muslims also received death sentences for being present at the assault and failing to call police, area residents said.
Robert Baguma and Moses Okech were beaten, cut and stoned to death in Namayingo District on Aug. 19, 2024 by five Muslims who were among the fishermen with whom they had shared the gospel in a three-month outreach on the shores of Lake Victoria, area residents said.
Iganga High Court Justice David Batema on Oct. 7 sentenced Musoke Yakuti, Kabwiso Mairadi, Talisuna Muzaham, Wandera Kalimu and Nyanga Latifu to death for the killings.
The two evangelists were killed near Bukewe Central village, Bukewe Sub-county, Namayingo District, near the shores of Lake Victoria. Baguma and Okech were ambushed while returning from the lakeshore to preach to fishermen, residents said.
One resident, whose name is withheld for security reasons, testified in the trial that the suspects had accused the evangelists of misleading people through their preaching and had made statements challenging their Christian faith. She also told the court that the assailants tore their Bibles to pieces.
“The attackers were shouting in a loud voice [the jihadist slogan] ‘Allah Akbar,’ as they were cutting them,” said the resident, who along with two others witnessed the killings.
She said she and the two other witnesses who testified in court were at a distance but close enough to “see everything and heard the attackers speaking in Lusoga dialect, ‘You infidels, why are you misleading our people? Today we’re out to kill you to prove the power of Allah. Why did you come to our village and mislead our people, don’t you know that this is a Muslim area?’”
The witness, who said she had put her faith in Christ when the evangelists told her the gospel, told Morning Star News that the five Muslims were residents of Bukewe Sub-County, Namayingo District who were also fishermen at the shores of Lake Victoria with whom the two evangelists had shared Christ.
She informed their church pastor of the killings, who reported it to the Iganga police station that same day of the attack. Two months later the assailants were arrested.
While at least one Ugandan news outlet in order to prevent religious tensions misreported that Baguma and Okech were killed over accusations of robbery, local Christians have closely followed the case for two years knowing the religious motives of the killers, area residents said.
The killings caused deep sorrow among area Christians seeking justice for the deceased evangelists. Their deaths were particularly painful to those who knew them through their outreach and preaching activities among fishermen, their pastor said.
The two evangelists had been commissioned to evangelize the lakeshore fishermen by their church in Iganga, unidentified for security reasons. The church pastor, whose name is withheld for security reasons, welcomed the court’s decision, describing it as a significant moment for Christians who had followed the case.
“We are very happy with the court of law for the penalty given to the offenders. For sure, they deserved it for causing our brothers in the Lord to lose their lives in such a brutal way,” the pastor told Morning Star News. “We have been following this case since it happened, and indeed we have received justice from this honorable court.”
Odongo Misaki, chairperson of Bukewa Centra village at the time, and his two brothers were present at the assault and were sentenced to death for failing to alert police, residents said.
The case has drawn attention to the importance of protecting freedom of religion and ensuring that acts of violence are investigated and addressed through the justice system in Uganda. Community members viewed the judgment as an important development in their long pursuit of accountability for the deaths of the two evangelists.
It was not clear whether the killers would appeal the verdict, though there were no signs of pursuing further legal action at this writing.
Their executions are dependent on authorization by the president of Uganda. The last execution of convicted civilians in Uganda took place on April 27, 1999, when 28 inmates at Luzira Prison were hanged.
The killings were among 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.
