Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, MA Somali: Ayaan Xirsi Cali; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan 13 November 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia) is a Dutch feminist and political writer, daughter of the Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse. When she was eight, her family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then Ethiopia, and eventually settled in Kenya. She sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992, under circumstances that later became the centre of a political controversy.

She is a prominent and controversial author, film maker, and critic of Islam. Her writings, especially her screenplay Submission and her autobiography Infidel, led to death threats from numerous Muslim organizations and individuals, which forced her to live under guard and in relative seclusion.

She was a member of the Tweede Kamer (the Lower House of the States-General of the Netherlands) for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from January 30, 2003 until May 16, 2006. A political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the parliament, and indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet.

She has received numerous awards for her human rights work, and in 2005, was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

As of October 2007 she has been doing this work from a secret address in the Netherlands. Following the murder of Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch government had been financing round the clock security for her. However, they decided to stop paying for protection while she is living abroad. As a result, Hirsi Ali returned to the Netherlands.

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