Man forced to flee his home after converting from Islam to Christianity

A father-of-six has been forced to flee his home under police guard after he said he suffered ‘years of persecution’ for converting to Christianity. 

Nissar Hussain, who converted from Islam 20 years ago, was hospitalised after one attack when two men, armed with a pick-axe, left him with a smashed kneecap. Last week, he and his family left their home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to a safe house. 

Mr Hussain said: ‘My family are distraught and extremely traumatised to be leaving. But when your life is at stake there is no other choice.’

He added that the harassment and violence escalated after he appeared on a Channel 4 documentary about the mistreatment of Muslim converts. 

He points the finger at sections of the Islamic community.

He said: ‘This extreme persecution by certain people in the Muslim community because we are converts has broken us as a family.’ At the time of the attack last year, Hussain said he and his family were being driven out of the city and he was making plans to leave. This week he had started packing up his belongings when the police arrived on Thursday November 3.

Mr Hussain, who was a nurse before leaving work due to post-traumatic stress disorder, says his children, aged eight to 24, and wife would never see their friends again. 

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said hate crime would not be tolerated and officers had been working with the family. 

He said: ‘Our priority has always been to work effectively with our partners to minimise the risk to Mr Hussain and ensure that we maximise opportunities to put control measures in place to safeguard him, his family and consider any wider impact upon the communities across West Yorkshire. ‘We are disappointed that Mr Hussain and his family have decided to leave Bradford, particularly as police and partners have been working together for some time to try and resolve the situation to the benefit of all parties concerned.’ 

The spokesman continued: ‘Police and partners would like to stress that there are a number of other people living in the Bradford district who have not experienced any issues based on their faith, conversion to another faith or choosing not to have a faith. ‘Under no circumstances will hate crime be tolerated.’

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2016/11/06/man-flees-home-after-converting-to-christianity-from-islam-leads-to-attack-6239445/?ito=cbshare

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