Somali-born Ms Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch member of parliament threatened for her criticism of Islam, called today for an alliance with other politicians under death threats to fight Muslim radicals.
Ms Hirsi Ali, who made a defiant return to public life last week after going underground following the November 2nd murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh with whom she worked closely, called on others threatened by Islamists to discuss working together.
A member of the VVD liberals, Ms Hirsi Ali said she wanted to meet Amsterdam mayor Mr Job Cohen and his deputy Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb, both members of the opposition PvdA Labour party, as well as Mr Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration populist.
"All four of us are on the death list and that is enough to take the initiative and come together, and because all four of us have different strategies, tactics and approach," she told the Buitenhof programme on Dutch television in an interview.
"I invite them to meet ... to discuss how to deal with radical Islam, with terrorists, who threaten our system." Ms Hirsi Ali, who fled to The Netherlands from an arranged marriage and who calls herself a lapsed Muslim, said the four did not oppose Islam but were against where she said the religion clashed with liberal values and democracy.
Ms Hirsi Ali (37) has enraged many Muslims by calling Islam "backward" and saying that by today's Western standards, the Prophet Muhammad was a perverse man and a tyrant.
Threats against her multiplied last year after she made an 11-minute English-language film called "Submission" with Van Gogh that projects text from the Koran that she says condones violence against women on the naked back of an actress.
A note attacking Ms Hirsi Ali, Mr Cohen and other Dutch politicians was left pinned to Van Gogh's body with a knife by his killer.
The Dutch-Moroccan man charged with the murder is due to appear in open court for the first time on Wednesday.