A pastor in Kenya of Somali descent, whom Islamic extremist Al Shabaab militants have threatened for leaving Islam, fears he soon could be killed, it was reported in mid-December.
Somali Al Shabaab rebels have offered a reward to anyone who kills the Revd Mahad H. Birik and, after a video of him describing his conversion from Islam seeped into major Somali broadcast, web and print media two months ago, the pastor (of an undisclosed church on the outskirts of Nairobi) said long-standing threats on his life became concrete.
‘My family is now living in a sleepless state’, said the father of two children – one age 15 from a wife who was taken from him when he left Islam, and a two-year-old from remarriage. ‘My life and that of my family is in imminent danger. It is very serious and real, as Muslim extremists are strategising on having my head.’
