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THE HAGUE, Netherlands – 30 minutes ago – In a press conference, Ayaan has divulged her decision to step down as Dutch member of parliament.
Many reasons for her decision:
- security precautions and housing difficulties
- letter from Minister Verdonk about her citizenship
- chance to move to the U.S. for a job at the American Enterprise Institute
● Statement of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
● BBC News Profile: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
● Fed Up with Holland, Hirsi Ali Plans to Move to America
Dutch Lawmaker Quits, Set to Leave Nation
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (ABC News/AP) May 16 — 5 minutes ago — A Somali-born member of Parliament who became an internationally known opponent of fundamentalist Islam said she will resign and leave the Netherlands because the government was revoking her citizenship for lying on an asylum application.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been under police protection since a film she wrote criticizing the treatment of women under Islam provoked the murder of its director, Theo van Gogh, by an Islamic radical.
She said she had made her decision Monday night, after Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk told her “she would strip me of my Dutch citizenship.”
“I am therefore preparing to leave Holland,” Hirsi Ali told reporters in The Hague, her voice choking with emotion. She declined to comment on what she will do next, or on Dutch media reports that she will join the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.
A REVIEW OF MONDAY’S COMMENTS ::
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) May 13 — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch legislator who has championed the rights of Muslim women, is returning from a book tour to a firestorm for lying on her asylum application when she fled to the Netherlands in 1992 to escape an arranged marriage.
Hirsi Ali, 36, said she was puzzled by the uproar since she publicly acknowledged the false refugee application when she stood for parliament in 2002. “Have they all gone mad?” she said, accusing her rivals of a political vendetta.
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MP Hirsi Ali may lose her Dutch citizenship as a result of her lies to the authorities in 1992 upon her request for asylum. Dutch media reported the first result of an investigation by Minister Verdonk into the case of her citizenship.
A Critic of Muslim Intolerance Faces Loss of Dutch Citizenship
PARIS (NYT) May 15 — The Dutch government abruptly threatened to revoke the citizenship of one of the country’s most prominent members of Parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born woman who arrived as a refugee 14 years ago.
“I’m speechless,” Ms. Hirsi Ali (VVD) said in a telephone interview from The Hague after she had received a call from Ms. Verdonk (VVD) . . Ms. Hirsi Ali said she considered the move to take away her citizenship, leaving her stateless, as an attempt to silence her. “I have been fully committed to my work in Parliament, and I have taken many risks,” she said. “This will make others think harder before they speak out.”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali in parliament
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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