A Muslim husband in eastern Uganda killed his wife via strangling because she left Islam and embraced Christianity, relatives and neighbors said.

On May 8, 34-year-old Awali Kakaire strangled 30-year-old Mariam Nakirya for converting to Christianity. The Muslim husband left the house after the incident, returned after two hours and forced his children into a garden hole, and has now fled the Mbaale village, Morning Star News reports.

(Reuters/James Akena) Women carry baskets of banana as they walk past a military personnel patrolling in Uganda's capital Kampala, February 19, 2016.

Kakaire was frequently away from his family for about a month at a time because of business, so his wife and children often attended Sunday service at a nearby church. He had started suspecting that his wife had embraced Christianity a month ago after the local imam asked him why his family had been skipping mosque prayers and the Islamic school.

One of his sons, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, told Morning Star that his father had questioned him about it but his mother had earlier instructed them to say that they were busy with school homework. On the day that Kakaire killed his wife, he had woken up at 6 a.m. and invited her to join him in the morning Islamic prayers. When she refused, he began strangling her.

"We resisted and began screaming, and neighbors arrived immediately, but he had already dumped us into the hole that he had dug," said one of Kakaire's sons. "Seeing the neighbors, he tried to flee but he was overtaken and then began to be questioned by those who surrounded him," he continued.

When neighbors arrived and questioned him about what happened, he only answered that his family does not respect Islam. The wife's relatives wanted to lynch Kakaire, but some Muslims helped him and police dispersed the commotion. He fled the area after Nakirya's relatives tried to ambush him several times.

All schools of Islamic jurisprudence uphold that a person who has left Islam for another religion is worthy of a death penalty, the Jihad Watch relays. Quoting from Qur'an 4:89, the publication highlights a command to "seize and kill" those who turn away from Allah.

Both Sunnni and Shi'ite schools of Islamic jurisprudence also hold the same principle in cases of apostasy. Renowned Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi said Islam would not exist if the punishment for apostasy would be removed.