Kenyan government gives Muslim teacher posthumous honor for saving Christians
The Kenyan government is honoring a Muslim man who, in December, stood in the way of militants to save the Christians on board the bus he was riding. He subsequently died due to a gunshot wound he sustained during the attack.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, during his State of the Union address on Thursday, said he was posthumously awarding Muslim teacher Salah Farah the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya. This is one of the highest honors in the country and is given by the president to those who give exemplary service.
"He died defending people who he did not know. This is because he believed in their right to freedom of worship and he knew that every single life - irrespective of faith - is sacred," the Independent quotes the president as saying.
The ambush happened on Dec. 21 when Islamist militants targeted the bus that Farah was riding. The bus, en route from Nairobi to Mandera, was shot at and was forced to stop. The militants, reportedly connected to Somalia's al-Shabaab, ordered the approximately 60 passengers to divide themselves between Muslims and Christians. The group is known for sparing the former and killing the latter. However, Farah and the other Muslim passengers refused, and challenged the attackers to either leave them alone or kill them all.
Farah suffered from a gunshot wound to the hip and he sustained injuries on his arm due to shrapnel.
"People should live peacefully together," Farah said during an interview with Voice of America while in the hospital. "We are brothers. It's only the religion that is the difference, so I ask my brother Muslims to take care of the Christians so that the Christians also take care of us. ... and let us help one another and let us live together peacefully."
He passed away in January while in surgery.
BBC notes the president saying that Farah is someone "who refused to be divided by terrorism."
