The daughter of a prominent imam in Lancashire is in hiding after her decision to convert to Christianity prompted death threats from her own family.

Hannah was born in Lancashire to Pakistani parents who raised her and her siblings as strict Sunni Muslims. She prayed and read the Koran, wore traditional Muslim clothes and was sent to a madrassa, a religious Muslim school.

She ran away from home at 16 after overhearing her father organising her arranged marriage. Hannah was taken in by a religious education teacher and decided to convert to the Christian faith. Although unhappy, her parents tolerated their daughter’s dismissal-of Islam as a “teenage phase”.

But when 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. They were shouting, ‘We’re going to kill you’ and ‘Traitor’. It was terrifying. I was convinced I was going to either die, but suddenly after about ten minutes the noise stopped and the men suddenly went away.”

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.