DEATH-THREAT MP SET TO LEAVE NETHERLANDS

[fagash_killer]

death-threat MP set to leave Netherlands By Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam Posted by: qaran


By Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam
Published: May 16 2006
Financial Times, UK


Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalia-born Dutch politician whose criticism of Islam triggered death-threats, on Tuesday said that she will resign her parliamentary seat after announcing that she intends to leave the Netherlands for the US amid a scandal over her citizenship and security fears.


The politician said that she was “saddened but relieved” to be leaving.

Ms Hirsi Ali was reported to have been offered a job with the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, a neo-conservative public policy think-tank, in September, having agreed security arrangements with US authorities.

However were she to lose her Dutch citizenship it could complicate her move to the US.

The decision to resign comes after an investigation questioned her right to Dutch citizenship, which she was granted in 1997, because she lied to Dutch immigration officials in her asylum application five years earlier.

Ms Hirsi Ali also faces eviction in August from a safe-house in The Hague where she had taken refuge because of death threats after a court upheld protests from neighbours concerned at the potential security risk.

The affair is a huge embarrassment to the liberal VVD party, which welcomed her with open arms in 2002, and to the Dutch government. It is likely to be seen as further evidence of a hardening of traditionally tolerant Dutch attitudes towards immigration.

Ms Hirsi Ali’s campaign against radical Islam in the face of threats to her life, made her an icon internationally, and earned accolades from presidents, politicians and human rights organisations.

She was forced into hiding in late 2004 following threats from radical Islamists, including the murderer of director Theo van Gogh. She had worked with Van Gogh on the film Submission, which criticised Islam’s treatment of women. Her refusal to halt her campaign against radical Islam won international acclaim.

Ms Hirsi Ali, 36, claimed political colleagues in the Liberal VVD party were aware that she had given a false name and age to secure asylum in 1992, before the party selected her as a candidate in the 2003 general election.

Ms Hirsi Ali was born in 1969 in Somalia as Ayaan Hirsi Magan. Her father was a political opponent of Somali dictator Siad Barre.

A television programme broadcast last week stoked controversy over the politician’s status. She has claimed that she arrived from a Kenyan refugee camp having fled Somalia to avoid an arranged marriage.

The programme, Zembla, claimed she had been granted asylum-status in Kenya where she was living safely, and interviewed relatives who said she had not been forced into an arranged marriage.

The affair is embarrassing for VVD colleague Rita Verdonk, the hard-line Dutch immigration minister who is running for party leadership. She initially told Ms Hirsi Ali she had “nothing to fear”. Then, days later, and under pressure from political opponents to apply her tough asylum policy consistently, she ordered an inquiry. “The law and the rules are for everyone,” said Mrs Verdonk.

Mrs Verdonk has faced media criticism for refusing a fast-track naturalisation procedure for Ivorian footballer Salomon Kalou in time for this summer’s world cup, and for expelling Taida Pasic, a teenage Kosovan refugee months before her final school exams.

[fagash_killer]

i think Ayaan is leaving Holland for the following reasons:

1-She wants to escape from the full investigation that would reveal everything that she has said so far is full of lies, for instance her books. And all the propaganda that she spread about Islam, our beloved prophet, and even about her own people—Somalis, would be revealed.

2-She is hoping that the US would assign her the head of Anti-Islam campaign. But the US wouldn’t have anything to do with Ayaan. I don’t even think they would let her talk.

The reason, the reputation of the United States in the Muslim world is at its lowest. And anything that Ayaan says about Islam would be used by the Iraqi and foreign fighters in Iraq as an excuse to kill more American soldiers. So why would the Americans endanger their soldiers? In addition, some terrorist groups would use Ayaan as excuse to attack the United States.

Besides, the US knows Ayaan’s anti-Islam rhetoric had run its course in Europe, so there is no point of reinventing the wheel. There is no point of giving her another lease of life. She is a dead cow (I am not implying that should be harmed at all).

Most definitely, Iran would benefit from having Ayaan in the United States. Every time Ayaan offends Islam, the Iranian president would be happy to use her comments to bolster his public speeches about the US hierocracy and its crusade of waging war against the Muslim world.

Unlike Europe, spreading hate and attacking other people’s religion is not tolerated as much in the US. Powerful Muslims especially the African Americans would wage war against Ayaan.

Soon she would find herself very much under house arrest.

In additions, she needs 24/7 protection. That is 24hours a day she would require at least 2 highly trained securities personal to be with her. That is 6 security personal a day.

The chances are each of these guards would earn at least $60,000/year. In total 6*$60,000 = $360,000/year.

So why would the US spend almost ½ million dollars/year on a foreign national that would bring nothing but trouble to its country.

Ayaan’s downfall has just started.

[fagash_killer]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali To Leave The Netherlands Amid A Row Over Her Citizenship
BBC — The Netherlands — 16 May, 2006



Profile: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, known for her outspoken criticism of conservative Islam, is leaving politics and the Netherlands amid a row over her citizenship.

Although the 36-year-old is no stranger to controversy, the swiftness of her fall has taken observers by surprise.

The furore follows a television documentary about falsifications in her asylum application when she came to the Netherlands in 1992.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has said that in her view Ms Hirsi Ali's lies about her name and age make her Dutch citizenship - granted in 1997 - invalid.

The MP has now announced her resignation from parliament and is to leave the country, "saddened but relieved".

She is expected to head for Washington, to work for the conservative US think tank American Enterprise Institute.

Death threats

Ms Hirsi Ali rose to international attention in 2004 as the writer of a controversial film on violence against Muslim women, Submission, after her collaborator, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered by a radical Islamist.

She has received repeated death threats over her challenges to Islam's treatment of women and has been living under 24-hour police guard.

Now, despite being one of the Netherlands' most prominent MPs, she seems to have lost the favour both of the general public and her party within days.

The revelations in the TV documentary Zembla that she lied about her name, age and how she had reached the Netherlands when applying for asylum in 1992 were nothing new.

Ms Hirsi Ali has admitted the falsification in several media interviews since 2002 and also informed her party, the liberal-conservative VVD, before standing for parliament in 2003.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI
1992 - arrives in the Netherlands, gives false name and age and claims to have come directly from Somalia; granted political asylum
1997 - receives Dutch citizenship
2002 - Vetted as candidate for VVD party; tells party and media that she lied on her asylum application
2003 - elected to the Netherlands' lower house
2004 - goes into hiding after her collaborator on the film Submission, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, is murdered
2005 - returns to parliament and announces plans to write sequels to Submission
2006 - resigns as MP and announces departure for US after documentary ignites a row over her citizenship

But where the documentary seems to have hit her reputation hardest is in interviewing members of her family who undermine her claim that she was fleeing a forced marriage when she arrived in the Netherlands aged 22.

Relatives, including her brother, are filmed in a comfortable home in Kenya saying there was no arranged marriage and that she had had nothing to fear.

The MP has previously explained not giving her real name, Ayaan Hirsi Magan, and saying she was born in 1967, not 1969, because she was afraid her family would find her.

She also told officials she had come directly from Somalia, rather than via Kenya and Germany, thus accelerating her claim for asylum.

Abandoned by party

Dutch commentator Perro de Jong, of Radio Netherlands, says the uproar over Ms Hirsi Ali's status has been fuelled by recent debate over asylum and immigration in the Netherlands.

Hardline immigration minister Ms Verdonk had little choice but to order an investigation of Ms Hirsi Ali's status, he says, despite belonging to the same political party as her.

Ms Verdonk's verdict was that after reviewing the facts "the preliminary assumption must be that she is considered not to have obtained Dutch citizenship".

Ms Hirsi Ali's case may not have been helped by her attempt to intervene in another high-profile asylum case.

The MP, known for promoting the integration of immigrants into Dutch society, has certainly received little support from other members of her party since the storm broke.

Mr de Jong suggests that while the VVD benefited from the publicity Ms Hirsi Ali brought them, some within the party found it difficult to accept her outspoken views.

"You could argue that everyone liked her as a token... but maybe they weren't willing, because she was a woman and an immigrant, to accept her as an intellectual force - someone with her own agenda who would speak out," he said.

The controversy comes at a time when Ms Hirsi Ali was already reportedly making plans to leave the Netherlands for the US.

A court had also recently ruled that Ms Hirsi Ali must move from a state-owned "safe house" in The Hague, after neighbours complained of a security risk.

She may expect a warmer welcome in the US, where Time magazine has named her one of the most influential thinkers of our time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Excerpts from Washington Post
Leon de Winter, an English-language blogger for the conservative German daily Die Welt, said, "She rocks the boat. As a member of the Dutch parliament for the liberal party she scares the insipid appeasers of the centre-left who'd like nothing better than to ignore what she has to say. What the racist right think of her is perhaps best left unsaid."

The report that Ali would join AEI was "premature," he added.

The Dutch media reaction to her prospective exile to America has been mixed, according to Expatica.com. Some political allies have expressed regret, while a spokesman for a Dutch Muslim group said her departure would contribute to religious understanding. An AEI spokesman cited a blanket policy of not commenting on personnel decisions.

If Ali is headed for AEI, Dutch researcher Peter van Ham suggested her atheistic convictions may create conflicts. He predicted she would not be encouraged to express her liberal views about euthanasia, homosexuality and abortion.

"The people who work there have a very religiously-tinted worldview," he said. "I think Hirsi Ali will feel totally claustrophobic there."

[fagash_killer]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali To Leave The Netherlands Amid A Row Over Her Citizenship
BBC — The Netherlands — 16 May, 2006



Profile: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, known for her outspoken criticism of conservative Islam, is leaving politics and the Netherlands amid a row over her citizenship.

Although the 36-year-old is no stranger to controversy, the swiftness of her fall has taken observers by surprise.

The furore follows a television documentary about falsifications in her asylum application when she came to the Netherlands in 1992.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has said that in her view Ms Hirsi Ali's lies about her name and age make her Dutch citizenship - granted in 1997 - invalid.

The MP has now announced her resignation from parliament and is to leave the country, "saddened but relieved".

She is expected to head for Washington, to work for the conservative US think tank American Enterprise Institute.

Death threats

Ms Hirsi Ali rose to international attention in 2004 as the writer of a controversial film on violence against Muslim women, Submission, after her collaborator, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered by a radical Islamist.

She has received repeated death threats over her challenges to Islam's treatment of women and has been living under 24-hour police guard.

Now, despite being one of the Netherlands' most prominent MPs, she seems to have lost the favour both of the general public and her party within days.

The revelations in the TV documentary Zembla that she lied about her name, age and how she had reached the Netherlands when applying for asylum in 1992 were nothing new.

Ms Hirsi Ali has admitted the falsification in several media interviews since 2002 and also informed her party, the liberal-conservative VVD, before standing for parliament in 2003.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI
1992 - arrives in the Netherlands, gives false name and age and claims to have come directly from Somalia; granted political asylum
1997 - receives Dutch citizenship
2002 - Vetted as candidate for VVD party; tells party and media that she lied on her asylum application
2003 - elected to the Netherlands' lower house
2004 - goes into hiding after her collaborator on the film Submission, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, is murdered
2005 - returns to parliament and announces plans to write sequels to Submission
2006 - resigns as MP and announces departure for US after documentary ignites a row over her citizenship

But where the documentary seems to have hit her reputation hardest is in interviewing members of her family who undermine her claim that she was fleeing a forced marriage when she arrived in the Netherlands aged 22.

Relatives, including her brother, are filmed in a comfortable home in Kenya saying there was no arranged marriage and that she had had nothing to fear.

The MP has previously explained not giving her real name, Ayaan Hirsi Magan, and saying she was born in 1967, not 1969, because she was afraid her family would find her.

She also told officials she had come directly from Somalia, rather than via Kenya and Germany, thus accelerating her claim for asylum.

Abandoned by party

Dutch commentator Perro de Jong, of Radio Netherlands, says the uproar over Ms Hirsi Ali's status has been fuelled by recent debate over asylum and immigration in the Netherlands.

Hardline immigration minister Ms Verdonk had little choice but to order an investigation of Ms Hirsi Ali's status, he says, despite belonging to the same political party as her.

Ms Verdonk's verdict was that after reviewing the facts "the preliminary assumption must be that she is considered not to have obtained Dutch citizenship".

Ms Hirsi Ali's case may not have been helped by her attempt to intervene in another high-profile asylum case.

The MP, known for promoting the integration of immigrants into Dutch society, has certainly received little support from other members of her party since the storm broke.

Mr de Jong suggests that while the VVD benefited from the publicity Ms Hirsi Ali brought them, some within the party found it difficult to accept her outspoken views.

"You could argue that everyone liked her as a token... but maybe they weren't willing, because she was a woman and an immigrant, to accept her as an intellectual force - someone with her own agenda who would speak out," he said.

The controversy comes at a time when Ms Hirsi Ali was already reportedly making plans to leave the Netherlands for the US.

A court had also recently ruled that Ms Hirsi Ali must move from a state-owned "safe house" in The Hague, after neighbours complained of a security risk.

She may expect a warmer welcome in the US, where Time magazine has named her one of the most influential thinkers of our time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Excerpts from Washington Post
Leon de Winter, an English-language blogger for the conservative German daily Die Welt, said, "She rocks the boat. As a member of the Dutch parliament for the liberal party she scares the insipid appeasers of the centre-left who'd like nothing better than to ignore what she has to say. What the racist right think of her is perhaps best left unsaid."

The report that Ali would join AEI was "premature," he added.

The Dutch media reaction to her prospective exile to America has been mixed, according to Expatica.com. Some political allies have expressed regret, while a spokesman for a Dutch Muslim group said her departure would contribute to religious understanding. An AEI spokesman cited a blanket policy of not commenting on personnel decisions.

If Ali is headed for AEI, Dutch researcher Peter van Ham suggested her atheistic convictions may create conflicts. He predicted she would not be encouraged to express her liberal views about euthanasia, homosexuality and abortion.

"The people who work there have a very religiously-tinted worldview," he said. "I think Hirsi Ali will feel totally claustrophobic there."

[fagash_killer]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali To Leave The Netherlands Amid A Row Over Her Citizenship
BBC — The Netherlands — 16 May, 2006



Profile: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, known for her outspoken criticism of conservative Islam, is leaving politics and the Netherlands amid a row over her citizenship.

Although the 36-year-old is no stranger to controversy, the swiftness of her fall has taken observers by surprise.

The furore follows a television documentary about falsifications in her asylum application when she came to the Netherlands in 1992.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has said that in her view Ms Hirsi Ali's lies about her name and age make her Dutch citizenship - granted in 1997 - invalid.

The MP has now announced her resignation from parliament and is to leave the country, "saddened but relieved".

She is expected to head for Washington, to work for the conservative US think tank American Enterprise Institute.

Death threats

Ms Hirsi Ali rose to international attention in 2004 as the writer of a controversial film on violence against Muslim women, Submission, after her collaborator, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was murdered by a radical Islamist.

She has received repeated death threats over her challenges to Islam's treatment of women and has been living under 24-hour police guard.

Now, despite being one of the Netherlands' most prominent MPs, she seems to have lost the favour both of the general public and her party within days.

The revelations in the TV documentary Zembla that she lied about her name, age and how she had reached the Netherlands when applying for asylum in 1992 were nothing new.

Ms Hirsi Ali has admitted the falsification in several media interviews since 2002 and also informed her party, the liberal-conservative VVD, before standing for parliament in 2003.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI
1992 - arrives in the Netherlands, gives false name and age and claims to have come directly from Somalia; granted political asylum
1997 - receives Dutch citizenship
2002 - Vetted as candidate for VVD party; tells party and media that she lied on her asylum application
2003 - elected to the Netherlands' lower house
2004 - goes into hiding after her collaborator on the film Submission, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, is murdered
2005 - returns to parliament and announces plans to write sequels to Submission
2006 - resigns as MP and announces departure for US after documentary ignites a row over her citizenship

But where the documentary seems to have hit her reputation hardest is in interviewing members of her family who undermine her claim that she was fleeing a forced marriage when she arrived in the Netherlands aged 22.

Relatives, including her brother, are filmed in a comfortable home in Kenya saying there was no arranged marriage and that she had had nothing to fear.

The MP has previously explained not giving her real name, Ayaan Hirsi Magan, and saying she was born in 1967, not 1969, because she was afraid her family would find her.

She also told officials she had come directly from Somalia, rather than via Kenya and Germany, thus accelerating her claim for asylum.

Abandoned by party

Dutch commentator Perro de Jong, of Radio Netherlands, says the uproar over Ms Hirsi Ali's status has been fuelled by recent debate over asylum and immigration in the Netherlands.

Hardline immigration minister Ms Verdonk had little choice but to order an investigation of Ms Hirsi Ali's status, he says, despite belonging to the same political party as her.

Ms Verdonk's verdict was that after reviewing the facts "the preliminary assumption must be that she is considered not to have obtained Dutch citizenship".

Ms Hirsi Ali's case may not have been helped by her attempt to intervene in another high-profile asylum case.

The MP, known for promoting the integration of immigrants into Dutch society, has certainly received little support from other members of her party since the storm broke.

Mr de Jong suggests that while the VVD benefited from the publicity Ms Hirsi Ali brought them, some within the party found it difficult to accept her outspoken views.

"You could argue that everyone liked her as a token... but maybe they weren't willing, because she was a woman and an immigrant, to accept her as an intellectual force - someone with her own agenda who would speak out," he said.

The controversy comes at a time when Ms Hirsi Ali was already reportedly making plans to leave the Netherlands for the US.

A court had also recently ruled that Ms Hirsi Ali must move from a state-owned "safe house" in The Hague, after neighbours complained of a security risk.

She may expect a warmer welcome in the US, where Time magazine has named her one of the most influential thinkers of our time.



Excerpts from Washington Post
Leon de Winter, an English-language blogger for the conservative German daily Die Welt, said, "She rocks the boat. As a member of the Dutch parliament for the liberal party she scares the insipid appeasers of the centre-left who'd like nothing better than to ignore what she has to say. What the racist right think of her is perhaps best left unsaid."

The report that Ali would join AEI was "premature," he added.

The Dutch media reaction to her prospective exile to America has been mixed, according to Expatica.com. Some political allies have expressed regret, while a spokesman for a Dutch Muslim group said her departure would contribute to religious understanding. An AEI spokesman cited a blanket policy of not commenting on personnel decisions.

If Ali is headed for AEI, Dutch researcher Peter van Ham suggested her atheistic convictions may create conflicts. He predicted she would not be encouraged to express her liberal views about euthanasia, homosexuality and abortion.

"The people who work there have a very religiously-tinted worldview," he said. "I think Hirsi Ali will feel totally claustrophobic there."