muslim womanA British born woman who now goes by the pseudonym ‘Hannah’ has moved 45 times in the ten years since her family vowed to kill her for converting to Christianity. It all started when she was 16 years old and overheard her father, an Imam in Lancashire, making arrangements for her marriage. She ran away and converted to Christianity. At that time, her family weren’t at all happy with her, but wrote it off to teenage rebellion. It wasn’t until she was at Manchester University and was baptized into the Christian faith that her family vowed to murder her. She has been running for her life every since that time.

Last night the woman said: “I’m determined to live my life the way I want to because I should have that freedom in this country.

“If you make the choice to come to this country, as my parents did from Pakistan, you have to abide by the laws of this country and that means respecting the freedoms of other people.

One night her father, uncles and about 40 men tried to break into her house with axes, sticks, hammers and knives. They yelled through the door that they were there to kill her for turning her back on their strict Sunni Muslim religion. When their attempts to get into her house failed, they left with the promise that they would get to her and they would kill her as a traitor.

She avoided being captured by her family by frequent moves and changing her phone number frequently. She’s often had to leave her home with only a moments notice to escape her father, uncles and brothers. She got her degree and started giving lectures on Islam. She didn’t seek official assistance until recently and only then because her brother contacted her via her cell phone. He texted her with the message in which he told her that he would not be responsible for his actions if she did not return to islam.

“I know the Koran says anyone who goes away from Islam should be killed as an apostate, so in some ways my family are following the Koran. They are following Islam to the word.

“But I do not think every Muslim would act on that.

“My situation is frightening, but I’m not going to let it frighten me to the extent I can’t live my life.

“I pretty much feel like I’ve lost my family and that’s very hard.

“Some days I feel very low and what my father might do preys on my mind. But I regularly change my phone number to avoid him catching up with me.’

She now is on a list of ‘at risk’ persons and has a ‘panic’ number she can call when she feels threatened.

Yesterday Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, told delegates at the launch of a religious charity that Muslims in Britain who wished to change faiths were living in fear of their lives because of Islamic hostility to conversion.

A study this year found that 36 per cent of British Muslims between 16 and 24 believe those who convert to another religion should be punished by death.

The religion of peace continues its rampage of violence and hatred throughout the world.