Initial Tribute: The Martyrdom of Pastor Hussein Adan Ahmed

The Martyred Somali Pastor: Hussein Adan Ahmed

The martyred pastor was interviewed in 2000 in the Somali capital.

Pastor Hussein Adan Ahmed, 44, passed away in Afgoye, Southern Somalia, on March 20, 2006. He left behind a wife, Fatima Mohammed Nur, and seven children.

Pastor Hussein died as a result of severe head injury he had previously received when imprisoned for his Christian witness.

Pastor Hussein, a teacher by training, was arrested by Somalia’s KGB style National Security Service in 1986 after Mohammed Adunyo, the Director of the school he was teaching, accused him of propagating Christianity among the students. Pastor Hussein was immediately put behind bars in Afgoye.

Pastor Hussein was transferred to the notorious Mogadishu Central Prison on the recommendation of Colonel Abdirahman Mohammed, the Head of Afgoye’s National Security Service.

Pastor Hussein was regularly tortured in the three years he spent in prison. His worst nightmare came true in 1989 when his Muslim torturers repeatedly hit him on the head with iron rods and wooden clubs until he fainted.

He was previously hit on the feet, ankles, and hands. Pastor Hussein’s torturers resorted to the most hated torturing (hitting prisoners on the head) because the pastor refused to reveal the names of his underground house church members.

Pastor Hussein became epileptic, his sight became blurred, his voice box was broken, and his right hand and left leg developed nerve problems. Pastor Hussein visited a local doctor after his release and he was told that part of his brain was damaged because of the head injuries he received in prison.

The cause of pastor Hussein’s death is listed as “severe head trauma received in 1989.”

Pray for the pastor’s wife and the seven children he left behind.

Blessed are those who suffer for the risen Lord for it is written “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” Matthew 10:28a. It is also written that “a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God” John 16:2b.