Who is Ayaan Hirsi Ali?

Dallas Morning News: You may never have heard of her, but Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of the bravest women on the planet.
Ms. Hirsi Ali, 37, was born in Somalia and fled her native land for the Netherlands to escape a forced marriage. She renounced her Muslim faith and became an advocate of the rights of women in Islamic countries. She has repeatedly denounced what she describes as the physical and emotional abuse of women in Muslim society, even among Islamic immigrant communities in Europe, where forced marriages and female genital mutilation are not uncommon.
In 2003, she was elected to the Dutch Parliament but has had to go into hiding on several occasions after receiving death threats. Her most recent retreat into the underground came after the Nov. 2 slaughter of filmmaker Theo van Gogh on the streets of Amsterdam. Police have charged a Muslim extremist with that murder. Ms. Hirsi Ali collaborated with the assassinated artist on "Submission," an 11-minute film (available for free viewing on ifilm.com) protesting the condition of women under Islam. A note pinned to the dead man's chest with a dagger said she would be next.
Defiant
Days ago, Ms. Hirsi Ali gave her first media interview since going into hiding. As defiant as ever, she vowed to make a sequel to "Submission," this one focusing on the oppression of individual rights in Islamic society. A jihadi's knife is the only thing that's going to stop this courageous woman.
All of us must do everything we can to protect her. Whether one agrees with her views on Islam is entirely beside the point. In the West, no one may threaten or carry out violence to silence speech. This fundamental right is under threat today from Islamic extremists. It must be defended without hesitation and without apology.
This African refugee is an icon of free speech, women's rights and individual dignity -- values at the core of Western civilization.