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Showing posts with label Honor Killing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honor Killing. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Imam's Daughter: On The Run in Britain


By The Brussels Journal

The daughter of a British imam is living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father for converting to Christianity. The 31-year-old, whose father is the leader of a mosque in Lancashire, has moved house an astonishing 45 times after relatives pledged to hunt her down and kill her. […]

Hannah was born in Lancashire to Pakistani parents […] She ran away from home at 16 after overhearing her father organising her arranged marriage. […] [W]hen she opted to get baptised, while studying at Manchester University, her family were incensed and the death threats began.

Her father arrived at her home with 40 men and threatened to kill her for betraying Islam. "I saw my uncle and around 40 men storming up the street clutching axes, hammers, knives and bits of wood," she said. "My dad was shouting through the letter box, "I'm going to kill you", while the others smashed on the window and beat the door. […]

Since then Hannah, who gives talks to churches on Islam, has been on the run from her family, often being forced to flee her home with only a few minutes' notice. After receiving the latest text threat from her brother, in June, she finally went to the police. No one has been arrested or charged in connection with the death threats, but officers have put her on an "at risk" register and have given her a panic number to call if she fears for her own safety.

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.