"I have translated for you below the trailer for a fascinating and in my view extremely credible documentary about Dutch parliament member Ayaan Hirsi Ali, with whom I am sure you are familiar.
The translated trailer below does not even begin to do justice to the programme, which can be viewed at:
(It is in Dutch but many of the the interviews are conducted in English).
The documentary I believe demonstrates, in devastating fashion, that Hirsi Ali is an even bigger fraud than she is given credit for by people with genuine knowledge about the subjects she pontificates on. Why? Because she is an invented persona. As you may know, her reputation is built on her purported suffering as an oppressed Islamic woman, forced marriage, and determination to escape not only this forced marriage but the purported consequence of leaving it - an honour killing at the hands of her shamed relatives.
Among the facts revealed by this documentary, that I can of course not independently verify:
- Apart from the occasional spat with her brother and sister during her youth, which are not discussed in the documentary, she never experienced civil/political conflict, whether in her native Somalia or anywhere else. Period.
- Her family are such Islamic fanatics that they sent her older brother to a Christian school in Nairobi. Ayaan herself was sent to a Muslim school, apparently for reasons of educational quality rather than religion. They were also not exactly suffering economically. Although the parents were divorces, mother and 3 children grew up in a spacious house in one of the best districts in Nairobi, the house is now inhabited by 3 families.
- Her mother was against her purportedly forced marriage, because she felt strongly that Ayaan should not get married before getting a university degree to protect her from the consequences of an eventual divorce.
- She claims she met her husband, a distant relative, on her wedding day. He claims they knew each other beforehand and were in love, or at least so he thought. He claims he would not have married her against her will. He also notes that rather than dragging her by the hair to Canada after the marriage he went there alone and sent her a ticket to join him some months later.
- She claims the whole reason she had to escape to Holland (her flight to Canada included a stopover in Germany whence she took a train to Amsterdam) was to escape her family and certain death at the hands of her shamed father etc. Yet the first thing she did was contact relatives in Amsterdam; she participated in a television documentary about refugees in the Netherlands very soon after arriving there; she was in regular contact with her father by phone and letter; and her husband in fact visited her at the asylum center and, rather than killing her like a lamb at Eid, agreed to a divorce.
- The documentary does not go beyond the facts, but my own provisional conclusion is that it was indeed an arranged marriage, arranged either by herself for opportunistic reasons or, perhaps, also with the collaboration of her 'husband', to escape Kenya and get to Europe - I suspect she would not have been able to obtain a visa to make the flight so easily if she did not have a marriage certificate to show the Canadian consulate in Nairobi. Her brother comes within the vicinity of stating this, but another thing that struck me is that he spoke very highly of her, while her parents refused to cooperate in the documentary because they did not want their words to be used against her. Not quite as aggrieved by their supposed "culture of shame" and her subsequent career as we have been led to believe.
- Given the sensitivity of the topic and anti-immigrant mood in the Netherlands I also felt the documentary was quite responsible in this respect, making it a main issue that she represents a party that has championed anti-immigrant measures; that the party leaders were apparently informed about the above or much of it and kept it under wraps; and that its government ministers have been expelling genuine refugees for precisely the kind of thing related above.
- To sum up, Hirsi Harisa whatever her name may be appears to have given "freedom of expression" an entirely new meaning...
Best,
M.
Zembla = Dutch television documentary programme produced by VARA (left of center) broadcasting organisation
VVD = Free People's Democracy, main liberal (i.e. right-wing) Dutch political party (currently governing coalition member)
News from Zembla: VVD Knew that Ayaan Hirsi Ali Invented her Escape Story
The VVD parliamentarian Ayaad Hirsi Ali is in actual fact named Ayaan Hirsi Magan. She falsified her date of birth upon arriving in the Netherlands and invented a story to obtain asylum here. She also tells a very different story about her marriage than her ex-husband, her brother, and an aunt who were present at her wedding. Hirsi Ali claims she was married off [against her will by her family], others deny this. This and other issues are examined in the Zembla documentary The Holy Ayaan. Zembla conducted research in the Netherlands and Canada, went to Kenya and Somalia, and spoke with people who knew Ayaan well but have never before talked about her. Zembla discovered contradictions in Ayaan Hirsi Ali's life story.
Ayaan spent the first seven years of her life in Somalia. The Magan family left the country before the civil war began. Father Magan was an opposition leader against the dictator Siad Bare. After the family briefly lived in Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, it moved to Nairobi (Kenya). There Ayaan and her family obtain refugee status. They live there twelve years. Ayaan's schooling is financed by the UN refugee organisation UNHCR.
In 1992 Ayaan arrives in The Netherlands via Germany. She has never been clear about her escape story: "I thought. 'if I tell the truth I will be sent back to Germany. Because the rules are very clear if you apply for asylum in The Netherlands: You first have a discussion with someone from Vluchtelingenwerk [an organisation of volunteers that assists refugees]. The discussion thoroughly prepares you [for your formal interview with the authorities]'."
By remaining silent about her background, she unjustly obtained a residency permit in The Netherlands. According to international agreements you can't obtain refugee status in two different countries. Yet Ayaan obtained this status in both Kenya and The Netherlands. Because Kenya was according to the [Dutch] Ministry of Foreign Affairs a safe country, Somali refugees who arrived from Kenya were supposed to be sent back to that country. [NB: Many were]. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to Zembla: "I invented the entire story. I also didn't state that my name is Ayaan Hirsi Magan, but that it is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I did not tell that I was born in 1969, but said I was born in 1967."
Hirsi Ali states that she informed the VVD leadership about her invented story before she was presented by it as a candidate for parliament. The party confirms that this was not seen as a problem. Hirsi Ali says in Zembla that her father married her off [i.e. against her will] to a Somali man in Canada. She was purportedly against the wedding and also not present on her wedding day. In Zembla Osman Quare (her ex-husband) states: 'e were in love with each other and she was present at the wedding'. Her aunt, Faduma Osman (who was present at the wedding) says: 'She was there and she was very happy. I didn't hear her complain'." Her brother Mahad tells: "Ayaan was there, her husband was there, and so was my father. It was a big event'." Ayaan however insists on her version of events. "I was not there and I know where I was".
ZEMBLA: ‘The Holy Ayaan’, Thursday 11 May 2006 at 20.20 on NPS/VARA on Netherlands 3.
Hirsi Ali states that she informed the VVD leadership about her invented story before she was presented by it as a candidate for parliament. The party confirms that this was not seen as a problem. Hirsi Ali says in Zembla that her father married her off [i.e. against her will] to a Somali man in Canada. She was purportedly against the wedding and also not present on her wedding day. In Zembla Osman Quare (her ex-husband) states: 'e were in love with each other and she was present at the wedding'. Her aunt, Faduma Osman (who was present at the wedding) says: 'She was there and she was very happy. I didn't hear her complain'." Her brother Mahad tells: "Ayaan was there, her husband was there, and so was my father. It was a big event'." Ayaan however insists on her version of events. "I was not there and I know where I was".
ZEMBLA: ‘The Holy Ayaan’, Thursday 11 May 2006 at 20.20 on NPS/VARA on Netherlands 3.
