Hirsi Ali resigns from Dutch parliament

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, May 16 (UPI) -- Dutch lawmaker Ayaan Hirsi Ali announced she is giving up her seat in parliament and leaving the Netherlands now that her citizenship has been revoked.

Immigration officials said Hirsi Ali never should have been granted citizenship because of lies she told in gaining asylum from Somalia in 1992. Hirsi Ali has admitted she never told immigration officials she had been granted refugee status elsewhere in Africa.

Expatica reported Hirsi Ali, a critic of Islam's treatment of women, told reporters the revocation of her citizenship was disproportionate.

"I came to Holland in the summer of 1992 because I wanted to be able to determine my own future," she told the news conference.

"Here in Holland, I found freedom and opportunities, and I took those opportunities to speak out against religious terror."

Hirsi Ali said she also was resigning her seat and leaving in part because of threats that have been mounting against her since she collaborated with slain filmmaker Theo van Gogh.