Ayaan Hirsi Ali - resignation statement

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's statement announcing her resignation from Parliament and her decision to move to the US.
She states what she wanted to achieve by becoming an MP, what she believes she has achieved, and why she is now moving on. She gives her full name.

Ayaan Hirsi Magan Isse Guleid Ali Wai’ays Muhammad Ali Umar Osman Mahamud

She deals with the story of the 'willing' marriage.

The allegations that I willingly married my distant cousin, and was present at the wedding ceremony, are simply untrue. This man arrived in Nairobi from Canada, asked my father for one of his five daughters, and my father gave him me. I can assure you my father is not a man who takes no for an answer. Still, I refused to attend the formal ceremony, and I was married regardless. Then, on my way to Canada -- during a stopover in Germany -- I traveled to the Netherlands and asked for asylum here.

Finally, she speaks about the future.

I will continue to ask uncomfortable questions, despite the obvious resistance that they elicit. I feel that I should help other people to live in freedom, as many people have helped me. I personally have gone through a long and sometimes painful process of personal growth in this country. It began with learning to tell the truth to myself, and then the truth about myself: I strive now to also tell the truth about society as I see it.

Note "and then the truth about myself". In the present circumstances, how elegant!

Tagged: Ayaan Hirsi Ali