THE HAGUE (AFP) - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a right-wing Dutch lawmaker and critic of Islam, said she was resigning as a member of parliament and would leave The Netherlands following a furore over lies on her asylum application.
"Today I resign as a member of parliament. I will leave the Netherlands, saddened but also relieved. I will back my bags. I will go on," Hirsi Ali told a news conference in The Hague on Tuesday.
The move came after tough-talking Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who is a member of Hirsi Ali's right-wing VVD party, told parliament Hirsi Ali's citizenship could be revoked because she had provided false information.
Hirsi Ali said she had decided to move abroad before the uproar about her asylum application arose because a Dutch court had ordered her to move out of her government-secured house after complaints from her neighbours.
But the threat of having her citizenship withdrawn had accelerated her decision. She nevertheless insisted she did "not feel chased" out of The Netherlands.
Hirsi Ali is under round-the-clock protection from the Dutch government because she has received death threats from Muslim radicals. Her neighbours had complained that her presence made them also vulnerable to attack.
The Dutch media has reported that Hirsi Ali has obtained a job at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think-tank which has provided members of US President George W. Bush's administration.