RAMALLAH — The son of one of the most revered leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian Arab Islamist group, has renounced his religion to move to America and become an evangelical Christian.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, 30, said that his decision to abandon his Muslim faith and denounce his father’s organization had exposed his family to persecution in his home town of Ramallah and endangered his own life.

But despite the cost, Mr. Yousef said that he was convinced that speaking out about the problems of Islam and the “evil” he witnessed at home would help to address the “messed up situation” in the Middle East and one day bring about peace and his return.

“I’m not afraid of them, especially as I know that I’m doing the right thing, and I don’t see them as my enemies,” he said. “If they want to kill me, let them do it. My soul’s going to be free of my body, not flesh any more.”

[In related news, Egyptian police yesterday arrested 35 African migrants attempting to illegally cross the border into Israel, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said.

The migrants were detained in two raids along the Egyptian-Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula and are being questioned by the police, according to a ministry spokesman, who asked not be named, citing department policy. The migrants are from Eritrea, Cameroon, and Sudan, he said.]