AMSTERDAM – Former MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is now in danger in the US as well. Her security has been stepped up for the past three weeks. Because of concrete threats, she is now receiving the same level of protection as she previously needed in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports.Hirsi Ali had more freedom of movement when she first arrived in the US last September. Her lack of freedom in the Netherlands was one of the reasons for her move.
The forced isolation made it impossible for her to continue in her position as MP at the time, she said. The Liberal VVD politician had to travel by armoured car in the Netherlands, accompanied by six bodyguards. In the US just two security workers, who kept an eye on her from a distance, sufficed.
Hirsi Ali's protection is carried out by American security personnel commissioned by the Dutch Justice department. Hirsi Ali works at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, a think-tank that has close ties with the Republican party.
As in the Netherlands, the threats against her come from Muslim extremists. They are in connection with the lectures and media appearances Hirsi Ali has been making since the publication of the American version of her autobiography, "The Infidel," in January.
The book has sold 148,000 copies over the past two months and led to heated debate in the US.
Besides glowing reviews in The New York Times and other media, Hirsi Ali is also coming up against opposition because of her uncompromising criticism of Islam.