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Ayaan Hirsi Ali back in the Netherlands

by Rob Kievit*

01-10-2007

According to a report in the NRC Handelsblad, the controversial Dutch writer and Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali has returned to the Netherlands and is planning to resettle here. Ms Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who became an MP for the Dutch conservative VVD party, left the Netherlands for the US last year after a row over her Dutch citizenship. Her vocal criticism of Islam also contributed to her decision to leave.  Her criticism also led her to be targeted by radical Muslims and her life was repeatedly threatened. The threats led her to be placed under round-the-clock protection both in the Netherlands and the United States.

Until now The Hague has been footing the cost of her protection but Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is no longer willing to keep paying. For the time being, Ms Hirsi Ali is in a safe house at a secret location.

Theo van Gogh
The Dutch government agreed to finance her security in the US in order to prevent a repeat of the murder of filmmaker and columnist Theo van Gogh, who was a friend of Ms Hirsi Ali. Mr van Gogh, a fierce Islam critic, was murdered in Amsterdam by a Muslim extremist. Before his death, he had received numerous threats from radical anti-Western Muslims in the Netherlands.

Ms Hirsi Ali says she has returned to the Netherlands because The Hague has refused to continue paying for her protection and Washington has refused to pay as US law does not permit it. She can continue working for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative US think tank, here in the Netherlands.

Emergency debate
The Dutch Green Left party has called for an emergency parliamentary debate with the interior and justice ministers to discuss Ms Hirsi Ali's protection. The party wants to know if the Dutch government has explored every possibility of guaranteeing the former MP's safety while abroad. The Green Left pointed out the similarities between this case and that of British writer Salman Rushdie. An Iranian ayatollah declared a fatwa against him after the publication of his book The Satanic Verses. The British government provided round-the-clock protection for him even when he was abroad.

Complicated case
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is controversial not only for her criticism of Islam and questions around her security but also because the row over her Dutch citizenship led to a crisis that toppled the Dutch government in 2006. Her passport was revoked but later restored after she apologised for misleading the authorities when she applied for asylum and Dutch citizenship. The heavy security around Ms Hirsi Ali's home in The Hague led her neighbours to initiate legal proceedings as they feared being injured if she were attacked and they were fed up of all the activity that her protection entailed. A similar lawsuit could well occur again.

* RNW translation (jric)

Tags: Green Left., Hirsi-Ali, Islam, Muslim, protection, security, United States, US, Van Gogh

Reaction(s):

Tony Brown, 03-10-2007 - norway

Salaman Rushdie says he paid his own UK government security from his book sales. The US at one time forbids him entry, he says. Ms Hirsi Ali can’t be taken at face value because there is a mask on it. These media employees use her to capture sales figures. The person sails across the West as a cure for the common cold. Was she a celebrity in the US? Did she capture an audience? Am I cynical? She is the character I see in Oslo. She uses the media as a stepping-stone. In the US she was a true fake otherwise she’d be starring in late night shows. "Rich Muslims go to the New World", she says. She is laughing all the way to her vacations in East Africa, I suppose. Another example of... How we are losing the West? Her opinions... are they hers? Hardly. Why do the media not ask her for proposals, please, to stop her mentality coming to the card game - I call Welfare Society - with covert card tricks. Every player should have the right to cut the welfare workers files before dealing. Confidential info? U BET! This lady comes from heaven for the Right & Left ... simultaneously. In the US. You sort out yourself out or no one will trade with you. She is confused. Maybe she should be to be put in a clinic soon to escape, but who will pay for her treatment? Who should? Who will diagnose this patient? I am amazed at how far she has come.

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Lester Ness, 03-10-2007 - China

It's a mystery to me why anyone takes Ms Hirsig seriously. She's obviously that very common phenomenon: a convert who hates what they used to be.

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Kathy S. Marshall, 01-10-2007 -

The security issues surrounding Ayaan Hirsi Ali certainly were understood as none less than exorbitant when she was invited to work for the US. It appears that as long as this bill was being paid by the Dutch,the US was more than willing to gain from her knowledge and experience. Traversing through bureaucracy is a daily event in US politics, I'm certain that we could manoeuver the funding for the security of Ayaan if we so desired. My tax dollars go for everything else, at least it would be money well spent for a change!

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Marc, 01-10-2007 - RSA

This certainly is an interesting way to spend the Dutch taxpayers Euros. But the law disallows her protection there, so she's back in Holland. The US are missing a magnificent opportunity - NSA, FBI - whoever. Obviously, she is one fantastically useful piece of bait for US-based Muslim extremists - those who are willing to kill or maim to achieve behavioural compliance with their beliefs - her presense will help flush them out and - off they go, ideally back to where they came from, but alternatively a new home in a Federal Supermax will certainly introduce them to some new social graces.

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