Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali became a Dutch citizen by illegally emigrating from Kenya. She appeared on a blatantly anti-Islamic film produced by Theo van Gogh, and since then she has been fearful of the consequences. She continues to rehash her anti-Islamic statement, and is now taken on tour by organizations seeking to smear Muslims. She was one of the interviewees in The Third Jihad, an anti-Islamic film produced by The Clarion Fund.

From her AEI profile:
 * "An outspoken defender of women's rights in Islamic societies, Ms. Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. She escaped an arranged marriage by immigrating to the Netherlands in 1992, and served as a member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006. In parliament, she worked on furthering the integration of non-Western immigrants into Dutch society, and on defending the rights of women in Dutch muslim society. In 2004, together with director Theo van Gogh, she made Submission, a film about the oppression of women in conservative Islamic cultures. The airing of the film on Dutch television resulted in the assassination of van Gogh by an Islamic extremist. At AEI, Ms. Hirsi Ali will be researching the relationship between the West and Islam; women’s rights in Islam; violence against women propagated by religious and cultural arguments; and Islam in Europe."

Professional Experience

 * Member of parliament, VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy), the Netherlands, 2003-2006
 * Researcher, Wiardi Beckman Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2001-2002
 * Interpreter and adviser, Office of Intercultural Communication, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1995-2001

Affiliations

 * American Enterprise Institute – Scholar