Dutch politician and activist for the rights of Muslim women Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is having her Dutch citizenship revoked.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch politician and outspoken critic of Islam, said on Tuesday she was leaving parliament and the Netherlands after hearing she may be stripped of her citizenship for lying to win asylum.
Hirsi Ali, a friend of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh, said she was resigning after Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, a member of her own VVD liberal party, told her she might lose her Dutch passport because she lied on her asylum application
It appears that she was what our government would describe as a “economic migrant�, having not sought asylum in the first country that she fled to.
Hirsi Ali, whose real name is Hirsi Magan, pretended she had come to the Netherlands from war-torn Somalia, rather than via Kenya and Germany. Refugees are usually required to apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach after fleeing.
“I am not proud that I lied when I sought asylum in the Netherlands. It was wrong to do so. I did it because I felt I had no choice. I was frightened that if I simply said I was fleeing a forced marriage, I would be sent back to my family. And I was frightened that if I gave my real name, my clan would hunt me down and find me.” She added: “I am going away, but the questions remain. The questions about the future of Islam in our country, the suppression of women in Islamic culture and the integration of the many Muslims in the West.”
Perhaps a good example of why we should be giving refugees a little more leeway.
This is a sad development all round. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is clearly an impressive person, and thinker.
She has caused controversy – both good and bad – and forced people to think about their various political viewpoints.
The question now is, whether to ‘approve’ of her original actions to lie about her reasons to seek asylum?
Political asylum is an important institution and protection, and every measure must be taken to ensure its integrity, otherwise it loses all its value.
“Refugees are usually required to apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach after fleeing.”
Hold on a second – that can’t be right! All those asylum seekeres reaching Australia after travelling through other countries . . .
Who is telling the truth???
Ayaan Hirsi Ali rocks – offer her citizenship here as long as she lives in Lakemba.
Razor, yes that is part of the argument our government has used for turning away the boats. They should be applying for asylum in one of the countries on the way.
Steve – don’t tell me these people are country shopping??? I mean they wouldn’t, would they?
I’m surprised she did not make the move to the US earlier. What kind of life is it to need police protection everywhere you go, to have to move house constantly to stay one step ahead of your assassins. All for being an apostate from a belief that persecuted you your entire life.
Razor –
Razor, even if she did move to Lakemba, she would be much safer then in the Netherlands. The Australian Muslim community is much more sensible then you seem to imply. That’s if you intended to imply that if she were to move to Lakemba, the Muslim community would do some nasty to her. If not, please disregard.
quite clearly she went to holland for dutch courage
Michael – I was hoping that her influence in the area would modernize the outlook of the more fundamentalist types in that neck of the woods. She rocks. If she comes here I would hope that the authorities do a threat assesment and give her adequate protection.
Homer, she obviously went to defend dykes against muslim oppression!
An interesting question is why Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s lies suddenly became an issue. She admitted four years ago that she lied to get into the Netherlands, and told her political party bosses about it before she stood for Parliament. Nobobdy held it against her at that time, and it wasn’t an impediment to her standing and getting elected.
I think the whole thing has been shameful, and reflects very poorly on the Dutch.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a “hotty”!
Leinad – you left off the Boom Tish!
Rob,
There is no doubt its political and obviously since then she has become a bigger target. However, a dutch colleague of mine tells me that she is on the record as having supported a similar decision against asylum seekers who were found to have lied about her application. I can’t find verification for this and he read it in a dutch newspaper so take it as you will.
That asylum seekers will lie is obvious, and I find it difficult to see why an exception should be made for her case. On the other hand people should have some sense of compassion and realisation for the contribution she’s made.
According to Peaktalk it seems the withdrawal of Ali’s Dutch citizenship is or will be reversed. Looks like it will take down Minister Verdonk at the same time.
I have said nice things about Hirsi Ali before on this forum, nonetheless, if she has engaged in country shopping and committed fraud then the Dutch she send her packing.
Asylum seekers- other than West Papuans- have almost invariably come to Australia via a smorgasboard of other countries. It makes me puke when they then carry on like pork chops about being put into detention centres.
Hirsi Ali was an impediment to the Islamisation project in Holland, and I have no doubt that the Left, which objectively supports the Islamisation of Holland, will be rejoicing at the latest news. This is a great moral victory for all radical Islamists and their Left-wing ideological kissing cousins.
Nonsense, Steve. I have a lot of time for her courage. I do hope that unlike steve munn, others might reconsider their approach to asylum seekers.
Aha! Being soft on refugees is ultimately a strategy for Islamising Australia.
That’s all the proof I need!
Nuts, Steve. How many refugees are from Islamic countries?
All of them. ALL!
Pardon me. I’m a few scotches over the limit, after watching Danny Green’s disastrous loss this evening.
‘I’m a few scotches over the limit, after watching Danny Green’s disastrous loss this evening’
You lucky bastard, Steve. Pay TV? I don’t have a TV, period, out of choice and more than 90% of the time don’t feel the need for it.
But boxing is just about the only sport I’d ever care to watch or follow. And Mundine’s comeback would’ve been a sight to see. I caught some live no-holds barred kickboxing in Thailand and that was the highlight of the entire trip.
I’m with you Jason – a slightly guilty passion of mine. Incidentally, if you want a good boxing read, I recommend Black Ajax by George Macdonald Fraser (of Flashman fame). Flash Harry’s terrible father makes a cameo appearance.
I hear a Radio Netherlands curent affairs program nearly every day via Newsradio and yesterday Hirsi Ali was front and centre.
Razor, she apparently failed in her asylum application in Germany. In the EU if you fail in one country you can’t succeed in any other.
The attitude seemed to be that the Dutch were more relaxed about the games they know that asylum seekers play back then. So while it was socially acceptable to rort the system back then it isn’t now.
Verdonk has been leading the charge in toughening up attitudes. For her rools is rools. So if she goes down now it will presumably because she didn’t apply her own rules back then.
Hirsi Ali was planning a shift to the US in 2007 anyway, presumably because she was sick of having six bodyguards in tow. So she is merely bringing forward those plans.
She says she’s achieved all she can in Holland and now has a larger platform to work from, so she’s heading for a place where she reckons she can be more effective from here on.
Her enemies say thet it was always inappropriate to use the Dutch parliament as a means to promote a personal agenda.
The radio commenters said she at least learnt Dutch, speaks perfect Dutch and behaved like a Dutch person (FWIW).
Hirsi Ali is a very interesting person, as I’ve said before. It’s awful that she’s had to have bodyguards and live in such a way and awful that her attempts to improve the lot of Muslim women must be applauded.
I don’t agree with everything she’s said, and I find it dismaying that she has one rule for herself and one rule for others. But she doesn’t deserve to be either divested of citizenship from the country she clearly has a great attachment to.
I think, with respect, that Brian’s missing the point.
Hirsi Ali came clean about her lies four years ago. She told the publc, she told her political bosses. Subsequently she stood for and was elected to the Dutch parliament. It apparently was not a problem back then. Why has Verdonk chosen this particular time to revoke her citizenship, when she has known for years what Hirsi Ali admitted to?
Bad politics is part of the answer — one must be seen to be strong and consistent on immigration, yada yada. But it’s backfiring now on Verdonk and her own leadership ambitions have probably been crushed. Even her own party is embarassed by the decisions she’s made, and she’s been forced to review them
Hirsi Ali has been plain about it: it was the court case a few weeks ago that saw her forced from her home that precipitated the decision to leave the Netherlands. She could clearly see that neither community nor the state was prepared to protect her. No wonder she decided to go to the US with all speed, just as Salman Rushdie eventually did.
Rob, I was going on the information I heard. Today Radio Netherlands had another go at it. Also this afternoon I heard Phillip Adams talk to Jytte Klausen
Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at Brandeis University about it. What I heard is consistent with what you say.
One of the papers ran with the headline “Entire parliament criticizes Verdonk”. It seems that the parliament reminded her that she always had discretion on the matter and queried what had changed all of a sudden when the story was common knowledge years ago. They suggested to Verdonk that Ali be issued with a new passport in her real name.
The comment was that Verdonk’s leadership aspirations were now dead.
Klausen said that Verdonk was an ex prison officer, meaning, I think, that she lacks a bit of sublety. According to Klausen, Verdonk had prepared a film illustrating Dutch values which included smoking hash and chics bare-breasted in the park. Also if you’re Dutch you are supposed to like the rain, it seems.
Klausen said that Ali’s story about being in danger from her husband and father in Somalia was also confected.
The Radio Netherlands report suggested that Hirsi Ali was entitled to 24/7 protection as a parliamentarian but not as a mere citizen.
Rob, do you have any idea why Verdonk has seen fit to take action now? I don’t and never have.
We seem to be forgetting the central question here. If Hirsi Ali left Somalia initially for Kenya, why didn’t she apply for asylum there? If she is unable to provide a legitimate reason then she is an economic opportunist in addition to a fraudster and she must be deported forthwith. To do otherwise would send the wrong message as well as being hypocritical.
steve, honestly I don’t think the Dutch need you to tell them about wrong messages and what they should do. As I understand it, Verdonk’s initial reaction was, that was then, this is now, that was a long time ago. Then she seems to have panicked and got herself into a right old mess with her peers.
How many of us came here as economic opportunists? Shouldn’t we extend a bit of intergenerational equity to those who come later?
Just askin.
Steve Munn,
If we are to take her story at face value, she lived in Kenya for some years, but was being intimidated by her family into an arranged marriage, and fearing for her life if she did not agree fled to Netherlands via Germany.
Brian, I think it was a clumsy effort to stake out her leadership credentials. The aspires to party leadership, and the Prime Ministerial spot. To show she was tough and impartial. But it has proved a spectacular miscalculation.
On the cultural background, this is a good article, I think.
Thanks, Rob. I’ve just checked out the story on Deutsche Welle.
It seems Verdonk went for a popular decision forgetting that she would need the support of her fellow party members to become leader.
This from Hirsi Ali herself:
What a woman.