Ayaan Hirsi Ali a ‘picture of bravery’

Anti-Islam campaigner Ayaan Hirsi Ali praised by panellists after her speaking tour cancelled amid security concerns.

Anti-Islam campaigner Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been praised as a “picture of bravery” by several Q&A panellists, after the anti-Islam campaigner cancelled her speaking tour including an appearance on the panel show amid security concerns.

UPDATE: Hirsi Ali hits back at Muslim critics

Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg, who was asked to appear on the show last minute with Labor spokeswoman for human services Linda Burney, said he had read Ms Hirsi Ali’s book and considered the author to be a “picture of bravery”.

“It is very regrettable people have sought to prevent her coming to Australia because they see her as the enemy of tolerance. I see her as an enemy of intolerance,” he said. “She sends a very powerful message as well about how secular laws should be above sharia law. So I think we must protect and promote freedom of speech … I was shocked to see psychologists, doctors, lawyers, community activists all agree she shouldn’t be coming here to Australia to speak her mind.”

Should we be doing more to defend the right to critique all religions, including Islam? @JoshFrydenberg responds #QandA pic.twitter.com/33YDVtkzCA

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 3, 2017

Host Tony Jones told the program the ABC had contacted police prior to Ms Hirsi Ali’s appearance, but the broadcaster had been told there weren’t enough people planning action to consider it a protest.

“Josh, you saw the petition, there are less than 400 signatures on it – it was hardly a kind of groundswell of opinion trying to stop her from coming here. And indeed the police who we spoke to said there was going to be a demonstration outside the ABC but there weren’t enough people to make up a demonstration. So it does seem the security issues are a little bit exaggerated,” he said.

“Extremist Islam has been responsible for a number of very serious security incidents,” countered Mr Frydenberg. “You can’t take that lightly. I defer to the experts.”

Editor-at-large of The Australian, Paul Kelly, said Ms Hirsi Ali was a “courageous and inspiring woman”.

“I am disturbed at the fact we have a petition signed by about 400 people, some of them quite prominent, suggesting that she should not come to this country. I think this is contrary to the fundamental values of Australian democracy … I don’t agree with all her positions, but she certainly raised fundamental questions about Islam which we should be prepared to debate as a society.”

.@LindaBurneyMP thinks it's our responsibility to promote freedom of speech. Paul Kelly thinks majority would have welcomed @Ayaan #QandA pic.twitter.com/0HLKKT1uoH

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 3, 2017

The first female Prime Minister of Denmark and CEO of Save the Children International, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said Ms Hirsi Ali is a voice for children and young women who are forced into marriage or undergo genital mutilation.

“That is why she should have a strong voice. And this is Australia … of course she should be able to come and speak her mind,” she said.

When Ms Hirsi Ali was last on Q&A in May last year, she stirred controversy by defending her critiques of Islam, saying she thought Muslim law was “deplorable”.

“Let’s take the Muslim community in France or any other part of Europe. If I want to address the jihadists and I want to talk about jihad, if I want to talk about Islamic law, I think that Islamic law is deplorable,” said Ms Hirsi Ali. “Am I insulting to the Muslim if I say that or am I engaging the Muslim in a conversation what about these things mean in practice? If you believe that homosexuals should be put to death for homosexuality we about that, is that offensive to Muslims? It is not. I think we should totally and completely move away from - when discussing beliefs and doctrines and traditions versus human beings, we should move away from such terminology as ‘insults’. I do not insult Muslims by questioning Islamic law. I honour them with reason.”

.@HelleThorning_S dealt with a number of terror incidents @Yunus_Centre thinks these opinions are not new but shouldn't incite people #QandA pic.twitter.com/u9t7QNlWqG

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 3, 2017

Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus said last night he believed Hirsi Ali was receiving so much criticism because of the way she made her point.

“If a large number of Muslims are angry with her, there’s something missing in her tone, in her voice, in her way presenting the case,” he said. “Nobody is against freedom of speech but that gives you responsibility.”

How can we better protect young women from violations of human rights? @HelleThorning_S @JoshFrydenberg & @LindaBurneyMP respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/DaF9s4UvgP

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) April 3, 2017

Ms Thorning-Schmidt swiftly disagreed.

“If you have freedom of speech you can insult people,” she said. “For example, when women were fighting for their rights in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I think a lot of people thought they had a very insulting tone to some of the men they were fighting against. I think you have to use a language, not an insulting language if you can avoid it, but you can’t limit freedom of speech.”