Thursday, May 18, 2006
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – A Somali-born lawmaker who may lose her Dutch citizenship because she lied on her asylum application is welcome to move to the United States, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said on Thursday.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of Islam, said earlier this week she was resigning and leaving the Netherlands after Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, a member of her own VVD liberal party, told her she might lose her Dutch passport.
Hirsi Ali has been offered a job by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank, and according to media reports had been in negotiations with two other U.S. institutes.
Zoellick, on a visit to the Netherlands, told journalists Hirsi Ali would be admitted to his country.
“The government of the Netherlands is still discussing her ultimate status and that is … for the Netherlands to determine along the way, but she is obviously welcome to the United States,” Zoellick said.
He added that if she did move to the United States her status would depend on decisions taken by the Dutch government and that her special security needs would be attended to.
“I am not going to comment on specific security matters but obviously she needs to be taken care of,” Zoellick said.
Hirsi Ali has drawn death threats for her fight for the rights of Muslim women.
She went into hiding in 2004 when an Islamic militant killed Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh after he directed a film Hirsi Ali wrote accusing Islam of suppressing women.
Hirsi Ali returned to parliament a few months later but has continued to live under heavy guard.
Her party colleague Verdonk has come under attack for her move to strip Hirsi Ali of her citizenship and on Wednesday Verdonk reluctantly accepted a demand by parliament to reconsider her decision within six weeks and also look at any new request for citizenship immediately.
Hirsi Ali admitted using a false name and date of birth when she arrived in 1992 to stop her family finding her after she fled an arranged marriage with a cousin in Canada.
However, she said that had been public knowledge when the VVD chose her as a candidate in 2002 and that she would appeal.
Source: Reuters, May 18, 2006
