The High Cost of Free Speech

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 23, 2007— -- The Dutch government's decision to discontinue security protection for Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of Islam, has touched off an international debate over the limits and costs of freedom of expression.

Hirsi Ali, an author and former member of the Dutch parliament, has lived under a death threat since 2004 that was delivered when filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam. In a letter addressed to Hirsi Ali -- impaled in van Gogh's chest by his Islamist assassin MohammedBouyeri -- the Somali-born immigrant to the Netherlands was threatened withdestruction in the name of Islam.

Hirsi Ali had worked with van Gogh, a descendent of the famouspainter and a ubiquitous political figure in Dutch society. The two produced ashort film titled "Submission" in which Koranic verses were projected acrossthe bodies of naked women in an attempt to protest what they saw as the Islamicabuse of women.

Hirsi Ali first came to the Netherlands in a successful attempt to escape anarranged marriage in her homeland. Although originally a pious Muslim, she repudiated her faith and spoke out for freedom of expression and against Islamic practices that she deemed harmful to women.

Coming to America

The ire raised by her publiccommentary had already required her to seek protection before to van Gogh'sassassination. After the murder, Hirsi Ali went into hiding, and the Dutchgovernment provided a round-the-clock security detail.

Last year, she moved to the United States to take a post at theAmerican Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. At the time,the Dutch government agreed to continue footing the bill for her protection, about $3 million a year.

But the conservative-led Dutch parliament this year decided to halt the paymentsat the beginning of October. Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin justified thegovernment's stance by saying the government would continue to pay for Hirsi Ali'sprotection so long as she resided within the Netherlands.

To her supporters, the action was an act of bad faith.

In an open letter published in the French daily Libération, a group of French intellectuals today accusedthe Dutch government of "inexcusable cowardice."

"The Netherlands has closed its eyes to a world in which terrorism, intoleranceand totalitarianism know no bounds," the group wrote in the letter.

Hirsi Ali has also criticized the government's decision. In an interview last week with the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, famed for publishing cartoons of the Prophet that many Muslims found insulting, Hirsi Ali pouredscorn on the Dutch action.

"The decision to withdraw the security detail was not an issue of money but ofprinciple," she told Jyllands Posten. "It costs less to have me protected by an American firm than it costs for me tobe safeguarded in the Netherlands.

"I think the government would like to send a message to others in Holland thatthey should shut their mouths," she said.

Earlier in the week, Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen criticized the Dutchgovernment for ceasing the payments. He also offered Hirsi Ali a place to liveunder protection in Denmark.

"Hirsi Ali must never be left in the lurch," Rasmussen told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant.

Paying for Protection

The American Enterprise Institute has set up a fund to help raise money for Hirsi Ali's protection. The organization said it was processing private donations to arrange for her security. Anotherfund would also be set up in the future to ensure the safety of otherendangered Muslim dissidents, The Associated Press reported.

Despite the international furor, opinion within the Netherlands has largely backed theparliament's decision. And, surprisingly, those arguing for the continuedpayment of Hirsi Ali's security costs have largely come from outside hersupporter base.

The voices calling forcontinued funding within the Netherlands have mainly come from the left, according to Bibi van Ginkel, senior researcher at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch international relations think tank.

"She's a high-profile person, whether or not you agree with her beliefs. Theleft has overlooked [her beliefs] and decided that she is an important personwho contributes to an important debate, so they think that's something they doneed to support, and as she is a Dutch citizen, they believe that for practicalreasons the government should extend the financial support until an appropriatealternative is found," said van Ginkel.

Still, regardless of the opposition coming from the left, the Ministry ofJustice reported that an overwhelming majority of the Tweede Kamer (the lower house of the States-General of the Netherlands) had endorsedthe Cabinet's resolution, according to De Volkskrant.

Arnold van Burg, a history and politics student at LeidenUniversity, explained that the unwavering Dutch attitude partly results froma decline in Hirsi Ali's status within the Netherlands.

"I think her role is largely fulfilled here. She's lost her momentum inHolland," he said. "She was a person who gained momentum at a certain time, but now she's dead inHolland."