6 Feb 2012
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somalian refugee who served as a Member of the Dutch Parliament, has published an article in Newsweek detailing the threat which Christians face in Muslim countries. Hirsi Ali asserts that “the conspiracy of silence about the violent expression of religious intolerance must stop”, condemning Western governments and media for ‘forgetting’ the about the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries in the wake of the Arab spring.
Although Hirsi Ali is no longer a politician in the Netherlands, media in the country addressed the Newsweek article ad considered Hirsi Ali’s position with respect to recent comments by Dutch politician Frits Bolkestein and political scientist Hala Naoum Nehme, as well as considering the Dutch Foreign Ministry’s human rights policy with respect to religious minorities.
