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Europe
Denmark prepared to offer Dutch Islam critic safe haven
2007-10-16
Copenhagen - A former Dutch parliamentarian and Islam critic should be offered a safe haven in Denmark, Danish Culture Minister Brian Mikkelsen said Monday. Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali has had special security protection since 2004 over death threats after she penned the script for the movie Submission that depicts repression of women in Muslim culture. The film's director Theo Van Gogh was killed in November 2004.

A year ago, Hirsi Ali left the Netherlands for the United States, but recently returned to the Netherlands since US authorities allegedly refused to pay for her security.
It was the Dutch authorities that refused to pay.
The Danish government is drafting legislation to offer threatened authors a safe haven in various cities, and Hirsi Ali would fit the criteria, Mikkelsen told public broadcaster DR. "She has experienced persecution, threats to her life, she has struggled for freedom of speech," Mikkelsen said.

The conservative culture minister said Copenhagen would be prepared to cover the costs for Hirsin Ali's security. Several parties in the Danish legislature backed the proposal.

Hirsi Ali was a former lawmaker for the Liberal VVD party but left parliament over a controversy linked to her asylum application in 1992.
Posted by:anonymous5089

#7  Dutch parliament voted to stop paying for her security in the USA. Her employer has set up two funds to collect money. Her lawyer, Britta Böhler, is controling one of the funds.
Posted by: Peter   2007-10-16 17:29  

#6  I thought the Dutch Parliament had voted to stop paying for Ms. Ali's security?
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-10-16 16:45  

#5  He knows (or should know) that Hirsi Ali has said more than once she's planning to stay in the USA permenantly. No surprise that Hirsi Ali has turned the offer down.
Posted by: Peter   2007-10-16 16:14  

#4  If Mikkelsen really wants to help her he can offer to pay the cost of her protection in the USA, because that's the problem. There is no need to offer her a safe haven in Europe because the Dutch government protects her in the Netherlands.
Posted by: Peter   2007-10-16 16:11  

#3  As has so often been the case, the tiny nation of Denmark steps up to the plate and knocks yet another one out of the park.

My mother, who was born and raised a Swede, always preferred Danes to Swedes (but not as much as she preferred Americans, thank goodness). She said Danes are far less uptight and smugly patronizing - more "real" and earthy too.
Posted by: xbalanke   2007-10-16 13:37  

#2  As has so often been the case, the tiny nation of Denmark steps up to the plate and knocks yet another one out of the park. More cartoons, please! I want the entire MME (Muslim Middle East) in a constant paralytic rage until the death toll from aneurysms skyrockets.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-10-16 08:31  

#1  Slice me some Havarti and pour me a Tuborg, please.
Posted by: Glenmore   2007-10-16 08:08  

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