A section of the poster for Mr Abela’s performance, The Diary of an Ex-Muslim.

The Maltese-Egyptian interpreter who claimed he was threatened he would be “shot dead” if he staged a controversial monologue he wrote told the police he did not want them to take any action, Times of Malta has learnt.

Police sources confirmed that Will Abela declined to file a police report after being confronted by officers following the publication of a Times of Malta report about the threats on Tuesday.

This newspaper reported Mr Abela’s claims that he had been told he would be killed if he staged The Diary of an Ex-Muslim, in which he claims there is no God.

“I was warned I would never even set foot on the stage. Some have asked me if I think I will get away with this,” he said.

The police sources pointed out that Mr Abela said he did not want them to investigate when officers spoke to him.

Asked about this, Mr Abela said he had not filed a report because he did not want to “escalate matters”. He backtracked from his original claims and said he did not agree with describing the messages he had received as threats, preferring to use the term “warnings”.

I do not want to insult people’s beliefs, I want them to leave with a question mark over their heads

Among other things, Mr Abela said originally that he had been told he would be “shot down and killed for this”.

When first contacted, Mr Abela said he was reluctant to go into too much detail on the reaction there had been to his planned performance, saying he feared it would be perceived as a publicity stunt.

Fliers printed to promote the performance but never circulated identified the venue as being the Hilton hotel, but no booking was ever confirmed for the event.

The Hilton has disassociated itself from the controversial performance, saying it would not be held there.

When contacted, Hilton general manager Matthew Mullan said he was surprised to see media reports that the performance was being held at the hotel because this was never slated in its events calendar.

Asked why the performance had not been accepted after Mr Abela had attempted to reserve a hall there and whether it had posed any security concerns, Mr Mullan would only say: “Considerations are taken for all events before they are held.”

The performance has raised eyebrows due to its controversial claims, which seek to uncover what Mr Abela terms contradictions and “plot holes” in the mainstream religions.

Mr Abela felt that any raised eyebrows in the Maltese Muslim community were no fault of his and were likely due to “misinterpretation” of his aim. “I do not want to insult people’s beliefs, I want them to leave the performance with a question mark over their heads,” he said.