Beirut no place for a girl to grow up: activist

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has no doubts the children involved in the botched Beirut kidnapping would be better off in Australia.

She has made a career — no, a life — out of saying the kind of things that many people believe but wouldn’t dare utter and she’s been criticised for it, but human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali shows no signs of slowing down.

Take the case of the two Australian children who remain in Beirut with their Muslim father after a botched kidnapping filmed by Nine’s 60 Minutes.

Hirsi Ali says it’s “as clear as day” that “both children, but ­especially the little girl, would be better off being raised in Australia” where she would be “less likely to end up wearing the veil”.

“I can’t be clearer about that. How can it be better for the girl to be raised in a culture where women do not have equal rights?” Hirsi Ali says.

She understands that the children’s father isn’t an extremist, “but I still say the little girl in particular would be better off growing up in a society where women’s rights are not related to religion”.

Hirsi Ali, who is in Australia as a guest of the Centre for Independent Studies, agrees her views are polarising but that comes with the territory when you are “on the side of logic and freedom”.

Born in Somalia, Hirsi Ali sought asylum in The Netherlands in 1992 and within 12 years was an MP in the Dutch parliament. Her first book, Infidel, was a global bestseller, and a sharp rebuke of Islam. She now lives in the US with her husband, the writer Niall Ferguson, who once described her as being someone who truly understands what it means to be free.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali will deliver the Centre for Independent Studies 2016 John Bonython lecture at the Melbourne City Conference Centre next Thursday.