Dutch MP resigns amid citizenship controversy News
Dutch MP resigns amid citizenship controversy

[JURIST] Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali [BBC profile], who was born in Somalia, resigned her office Tuesday and announced that she will leave the Netherlands in response to the controversy surrounding her naturalization. Ali admitted lying on her 1992 asylum application during her confirmation proceedings for parliament in 2002, but recent reports surfaced about the discrepancies and Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk [official profile] said Monday that citizenship should not have been granted to Ali [AP report]. Ali changed her name and birth date and omitted on her application that she had lived in three countries before the Netherlands.

The Dutch government placed Ali under guard after the November 2004 murder of Theo Van Gogh [Wikipedia profile], the filmmaker who directed "Submission," a critical film about the treatment of women in Muslim society which was penned by Ali. Van Gogh's killing provoked over 150 retaliatory attacks on local Islamic mosques and schools and prompted changes in Dutch anti-terrorism laws [JURIST report]. AP has more.