The daughter of a British imam is under police protection after she received death threats from her family for converting to Christianity.

The woman, aged 32, whose father is a Muslim imam in Lancashire, has moved house 45 times to escape detection by her family since she became a Christian 15 years ago.

Hannah, who uses a pseudonym to hide her identity, told The Times that she became a Christian after she ran away from home at 16 to escape an arranged marriage. The threats against her became more serious a month ago, prompting police to offer her protection in case of an attempt on her life.

She was speaking on the eve of the opening of Lapido Media, a charity that is seeking to promote “religious literacy” in world affairs.

Muslims in Britain who wish to convert to Christianity are living in fear of their lives because of Islamic apostasy laws, a senior Church of England bishop will warn at the invitaton-only charity event in West London.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, will claim that “freedom to believe” is under threat in Britain because of Islamic hostility to conversion. He will call on society to offer greater protection, by increasing understanding of what makes people vulnerable.

Hannah, who gives talks to churches on Islam, has been in hiding since her home was attacked by a group of men armed with knives, axes and hammers, in 1994.

The latest threat was a text message from one of her brothers, warning that he could not be responsible for his actions if she did not return to Islam.

“I know the Koran says that 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 actually act on that,” she said.

Earlier this year, a Policy Exchange study found that 36 per cent of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed those who converted to another religion should be punished by death.

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