She was invited by French Socialist MEPs, who launched the initiative to set up a special fund for the former Dutch Parliamentarian who has received death threats because of her critical views of Islam.
 
"Today I find myself in the embarrassing position that I have to come to ask for help," she told the European Parliament. "I need you to support this fund to protect people like me whose only crime is free speech."
 
Ms Hirsi Ali has been living under police protection since the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004, with whom she made a film about Islam's treatment of women. A note targeting her by name was found on van Gogh's body.
 
The Dutch government stopped paying her security bills last year when she left to work in the US. "I think it was the wrong decision. I am forced to do fundraising and will have to go into hiding when the money runs out," she said simply.
 
Despite a high-publicity campaign in Brussels, the Somali-born Hirsi Ali is likely to come away empty-handed. The proposal has received the backing of just one in seven MEPs (85 out of 785) - and just two Dutch MEPs.
 
A tragedy for Ayaan
 
"This initiative is going nowhere," says Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, a Dutch MEP and a former colleague. "It's tragic for Ayaan because she needs security but the EU is not the place to provide it. She is being made to believe in something that does not exist."
 
The EU fund is the brainchild of French Socialist MEP Benoit Hamon, who says the EU must urgently protect any citizens whose lives are at risk because they exercise the right to speak out. "Europe has to prove it's serious about freedom of expression as a fundamental right, not just as an ideal on paper."

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