Danish minister invites Ayaan Hirsi Ali to live in Denmark

      

Minister of Cultural Affairs Brian Mikkelsen (Conservaties) sends a request to the country’s municipalities about inviting the Somalian-born author Ayaan Hirsi Ali to live in Denmark.

Monday October 15. 2007, 09:58

It would be logic to invite her as a part of the new strategy with free-towns for persecuted authors, for which the Danish government is preparing a draft for a new law.

That is what the danish nwespaper Jyllands-Posten writes.

“In my opinion Ayaan Hirsi Ali is on the top of the list of authors that we ought to invite to Denmark.

She has really fought for freedom of expression, and she has been exposed to personal threats against her own life”, says the Minister of Cultural Affairs.

Hirsi Ali has lived under police protection since 2004, when she was a scriptwriter to the controversial film “Submission”, whose instructor Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamistic fanatic.

Last week the Dutch parliament decided that it no longer will pay for her safety, when she is resident in the US.

According to Brian Mikkelsen the government will be prepared to pay for those expenses for safety that comes with housing the author in a Danish free town.

“It is clear that Hirsi Ali will imply an extraordinary expense.

We will look at this positively, says Brian Mikkelsen to Jyllands Posten.
His invitation meets broad support on Christiansborg (The residence of the danish parliament).

The counselor for cultural affairs the Social Democrat Anker Boye, is ready to discuss the matter with the government.

Translated article from the danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende