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A Liverpool cathedral reverend who converted to Christianity from Islam today admitted: “The extremists can touch me. I know that.”

Mohammad Eghtedarian, who fled Iran as a refugee, was ordained as a curate at the Anglican cathedral having converted to Christianity upon his arrival in the UK.

Rev Eghtedarian spoke to the ECHO after the murder of French priest Fr Jacques Hamel, who was knifed to death at his church altar last month in an Islamist attack.

He maintained that the killing would not deter him from his mission - but admits there is a risk.

Rev Eghtedarian said: “We don’t have to be naive. We can’t go out and pretend to be heroes.

“The extremists can touch me. I know that.

“What happened in Normandy was awful and evil."

"I don’t know what I would have done if I were him. Would I let them kill me? Would I resist? What would I be praying at that time? But I do know that God would be there with me.

“At the end of the day I believe that life and death are in our Lord’s hands.

“So I could die in an accident or in an act of terrorism.

“We must continue our work.

“If our Lord went through affliction and difficulties along the way then this is also our mission too.”

Born into a strict Muslim family in Iran, becoming a Christian, let alone a priest, was an unlikely turn of events.

After losing his father in a car accident at only 13 years old, Rev Eghtedarian said: “I was looking for a father. And I finally found one in God”.

The Iranian government blacklisted him early on in his life for speaking out against the Basij militia, and it was no longer safe for him to remain in Iran.

Travelling by truck, train and on foot through numerous European countries, he was helped by Christians along the way. A Christian who helped him in Paris asked him a crucial question: ‘Do you have any peace in Islam?’.

“I said yes I had at the time, but deep down I knew I didn’t,” said the Reverend.

Finally before being granted asylum, he spent four months in a detention centre near Gatwick airport.

He said: “Everything was against me. They had the ticket to Iran, they were ready to deport me. But I submitted my life to the Lord saying if you release me I will serve you. And he did.”

After being granted asylum in the UK, Rev Eghtedarian became friends with many Iranian Christians and a pastor who had converted from Islam.

Sixteen years after converting to Christianity, he now dedicates himself to helping other refugees. He holds a Persian service for 150 Iranian refugees every Sunday.

Rev Eghtedarian said: “Most of them are fleeing religious or political persecution. Many have been beaten, raped, tortured.

“They want a new life. A new future. Who am I to say no?”

Having been a refugee himself, Rev Eghtedarian said he can relate to the struggles.

The cathedral helps newcomers begin their applications for asylum with the Home Office.

To discern the credibility of their faith, they undergo five sessions of teachings before baptism, 12 sessions of confirmation and then post-confirmation.

Rev Eghtedarian refers to many of the newcomers as “baby Christians” who may have come to church with ulterior motives of aiding their asylum application.

But he said: “Of course, many start for the wrong reasons because they are desperate. Wouldn’t you?

“But they often find true peace in church that nobody else can offer.

“We are a voice of the voiceless. We accept strangers, those that others won’t. We do it for Christ.”