THE HAGUE, 08/12/06 - The cabinet has denied that it put Ayaan Hirsi Ali in political isolation following the terrorist murder of Theo van Gogh. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin rejects suggestions that Hirsi Ali was sent to the US to prevent her unleashing more Islamic violence with her sharp tongue.

Columnists Afshin Ellian and Leon de Winter wrote in an article in newspaper De Volkskrant in October that the government decided to send Hirsi Ali temporarily to the US following the 2 November 2004 murder of her friend and filmmaker Van Gogh. A Muslim cut his throat on the street in Amsterdam and on his body, stuck a knife with a letter saying Hirsi Ali would be the next victim.

Hirsi Ali, who made the controversial film Submission with Van Gogh, was flown to the US in a military aircraft eight days after the murder. The then Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner did so to demoralise her and for fear of the MP speaking out in public about the attack on Van Gogh, according to Ellian and De Winter.

In written answers to questions in parliament, Donner's successor Hirsch Ballin however rejects the suggestion that there was a politically orchestrated isolation process. The then MP was flown to the US purely for her own safety, in his view.

Ellian and De Winter also wrote that Hirsi Ali was at the time put in a US witness protection programme. This is however not the case, said Hirsch Ballin. The politician was protected by Dutch security guards during her stay in the US, under the responsibility of the Dutch government, according to the minister.

Hirsi Ali has since gone to live in the US. The former MP works at a conservative think-tank in Washington. In principle, the US should now take care of her protection, but to ensure a smooth transition, the Netherlands is still involved there, Hirsch Ballin wrote. For security reasons, the minister cannot divulge in what specific way.