‘Pray to stay’: Church of England facing questions over asylum seeker conversions

Tory MP vows to launch investigation into apparent ‘loophole’ in system

 Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral
Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, where Emad Al Swealmeen was confirmed
(Image credit: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The Church of England has defended itself against accusations of having helped asylum seekers “game the system” by converting to Christianity.

Questions were raised after it emerged that the Liverpool hospital bomb suspect, Emad Al Swealmeen, had converted to Christianity from Islam. The suspected suicide bomber is reported to have been baptised in 2015 and confirmed two years later at a ceremony in Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, close to where he died when a home-made device detonated in a taxi on Remembrance Sunday.

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