With four fatwas against her and a bounty offered for her head, the former Sakharov Prize winner and Bangladeshi women's rights activist pledges to fight on.

Interview: 'Islamists may hijack Arab Spring' - Taslima Nasrin

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15755311/n003-0153-en_mf.srt

Taslima Nasrin, you're a qualified doctor,  you're a poet, a writer,

You're despised  by some Muslim extremists.

Which part of all of the things you do  do they dislike the most?

They dislike that I say that Islam  is not compatible with women's rights,

But Muslims all over the world,  Muslim fundamentalists, hate me.

Not only Muslim fundamentalists,  but also misogynists, male chauvinists.

They do not like  that I am fighting for women's rights.

You've had a number of fatwas  against you.

I counted four, but there may be more.  That's an awful lot of condemnation.

It must be quite  a terrifying existence, surely.

I think so. I was thrown out  of Bangladesh 17 years ago.

I have been living in exile for 17 years.

and then I was thrown out of India again  by the Indian government.

Only last year I got permission  to live in India.

But it's very difficult to live in India

surrounded by all these fundamentalists  and misogynists,

but I think that my fight is very important.

We've seen the Arab Spring,  and some women's groups in North Africa

are saying, 'Now we have our chance  to take a place in society.'

Do you feel that will happen or is there  a fear that more extreme Islamic elements

are involved in those revolutions  and might stop that happening?

Yeah. Those corrupt dictators  were at least secular.

Now I'm not very optimistic  that democracy in Arab countries

I think the Islamists  will try to get into power

and they will not give women  any chance...

You've been lauded in the West.  You received the Sakharov Prize in 1994.

I presume the fundamentalists  in the Islamic countries see that as a sign

that you are a tool of the West  and against them.

Has it helped you or hindered you  in the work you're doing

Yes, there are people  who always try to say

that because she spoke against Islam  she is loved by the West.

But I always say that it's not a fight  between the West and Islam.

The conflict is somewhere else.  There is a conflict.

The conflict is between  secularism and fundamentalism,

between irrational blind faith  and rational logical minds,

between the people who value freedom  and those who do not.

No. It is a fight between rational  logical minds and irrational blind faith.

In Bangladesh and India  there are many women

who are really becoming  very courageous.

Many people say it's the Taslima effect,

because they're convinced  by what I wrote,

that women should fight  the misogynists, the male chauvinists,

the religious fundamentalists  or religionists,

Those are the forces  which will always try to prevent women

Taslima Nasrin, thank you very much and  congratulations on the work you've done.