Hirsi Ali: I offered him a knife to stab me

3 June 2004

AMSTERDAM — Somali-born MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali has revealed she offered a student a knife and invited him to stab her when he told her he hoped the “Mojahedin” would kill her. Hirsi Ali’s life has repeatedly been threatened in response to her severe criticism of the Islamic faith.

In her column in Friday’s edition of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, Hirsi Ali said she was accosted in Cafe Dudok in The Hague last week. A student tapped her on the back and said: “Madam, I hope with all my heart that the Mojahedin (Islamic warriors) catch you and kill you”.

The Liberal VVD party politician says she angrily grabbed a knife, offered it to him and told him: “If you want me dead you will have to do it yourself”.

The young man replied he wanted to kill her, but did not dare as he was afraid to go to jail.

They exchanged some more words before the young man, who said he was 24 and from Tilburg, apologised and left.

Hirsi Ali — who once wrote Islamic prophet Mohammed was a pervert for taking a 12-year-old girl as one of his wives — has frequently been the target of death threats.

The politician wrote in her latest column that she often received death threats by phone and in the mail, but this incident made the biggest impression on her.

Two years ago, she had to hide out in the US for months and these days she is accompanied by bodyguards when in public.

In March this year, she accidentally pepper-sprayed diners at a high-class restaurant in The Hague while showing off the self-defence weapon. The incident was reported to police because pepper spray and mace are illegal in the Netherlands.

Subject: Dutch news + Ayaan Hirsi Ali + Islam in the Netherlands