Christian student murdered in Uganda for sharing the Gospel

NAIROBI, Kenya — A Christian college student was killed in northern Uganda on April 14 for sharing about Christ with Muslims, a fellow student said.

Jeremiah Mwanga, a second-year student at the Uganda Christian School of Professionals in Lira, Northern Region, was killed in his room at the school in Gwangabara cell, Boroboro ward, East Division in Lira. He was 24.

Mwanga was a native of Kapchorwa District in eastern Uganda, where the Muslim student at the school charged with killing him also lived.

“Jeremiah complained about messages from one of the students threatening to kill him for misleading Muslims by preaching to them the Gospel of Christ as well as converting them to the Christian faith in the school,” a friend of the deceased told Morning Star News. “He requested prayers from the Christian Union fellowship.”

The friend, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, said that on April 14, he heard screaming from a room on the school premises at about 10 p.m.

“After 30 minutes, I rushed to the scene of the incident and found out that it was Jeremiah’s room,” he said. “Inside the room was a pool of blood.”

He said that Mwanga had already been rushed to a medical clinic near the school.

“Reaching the clinic, I was told by the medical personnel that he had been referred to Lira Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” he said. “I found him lying in the hospital bed, dead.”

The friend requested he is given Mwanga’s personal effects, including his mobile phone.

“Going through the phone, I found out that the threatening message was from a Muslim student who happened to come from Kapchorwa,” he said. “I then took the phone to the school administration, who reported the matter to the police.”

The suspect, identified only as Chengalat, was missing from the school. Police in Lira contacted officers at the Kapchorwa town police post, who arrested Chengalat in the town. Chengalat was brought to Lira to face murder charges, the deceased’s friend said.

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 religion to another. However, Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.