Dean's World

Sources in The Hague say that Ayaan Hirsi Ali - the moderate-conservative feminist, best-selling writer, former politician, and vocal critic of Islam - will not be stripped of her Dutch nationality despite giving a false name to get asylum in 1992. Why? TRL Nieuws reports that from a Dutch legal point of view, Ms. Hirsi Ali had not technically provided false information as her paternal grandfather's name was 'Ali'. She was therefore entitled under Somali law to use this name instead of her 'Magan' surname, even if she did not know this at the time of her asylum application.

The Netherlands was accused by international media of silencing Ms. Hirsi Ali because of her claims that Islam as currently practiced is not compatible with Western democracy. The Dutch Parliament later passed a motion calling on Minister Verdonk to allow Ms. Hirsi Ali to keep Dutch citizenship, no matter what. The six-week deadline for a decision runs out this week.

My response: she must have had excellent legal representation to dig that up that technicality. After the uproar in Holland and around the world, this is no surprise. Ms. Hirsi Ali still plans to move to the U.S., but this development certainly helps speed up the visa process and enables her to travel to and from Europe in her new capacity as an American Enterprise Institute fellow. Try as they might to silence this contrarian black feminist voice, Europe ain't heard the last from her.