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| Parents of Christian convert deny threat allegations |
| 2009-09-04 |
| The parents of an Ohio teenager who claims her father threatened to kill her because she converted from Islam to Christianity denied Thursday all allegations against them. Rifqa Bary, 17, ran away from her family in Columbus, Ohio, in July and took refuge in the home of the Rev. Blake Lorenz with the Global Revolution Church in Orlando, Florida. The teen heard of the pastor and his church through a prayer group on Facebook. The girl's parents reported her missing to Columbus police, who found her two weeks later in Florida through cell phone records. The teenager, in a sworn affidavit, claims her father, Mohamed Bary, 47, was pressured by the mosque the family attends in Ohio to "deal with the situation." In the court filing, Rifqa Bary stated her father said, "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!" The teenager claims her father added, "I will kill you!" At a juvenile court hearing in Orlando Thursday, through their attorney the teenager's parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, denied all the allegations against them. The parents could not attend the hearing in person but listened through a telephone conference as their lawyer spoke for them. They denied they ever threatened to kill their daughter because she converted to Christianity Mohamed Bary told CNN he believes a lot of false information has been circulated about the case and he said, "We wouldn't do her harm." He said he knew his daughter was involved with Christian organizations. "I have no problem with her practicing any faith," he said. But Bary conceded he would have preferred that his daughter practice the Muslim faith first. Judge Daniel Dawson of the Orange County Juvenile Court ordered the girl and her parents seek mediation within 30 days. The judge previously ruled the girl will continue to stay in foster care until the allegations are resolved. The judge also sealed a report on the girl from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and issued a gag order for attorneys in the case. At one point during the hearing the girl's court-appointed guardian, Krista Bartholomew, told the court, "This is not a holy war but a case about a broken family." Outside the courthouse following the hearing a Muslim activist and several Christian activists exchanged words over the case. Another hearing is scheduled for September 29 if the family is not able to resolve the conflict through mediation. See also: Islamic center says it's being smeared by hate groups |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #12 If she didn't come from a Moslem family there wouldn't be any question. A 17 year old can declare herself emacipiated from her family for virtually any reason. If your or my kid can do this for reasons of incompatibility why can't she? Religious discrimination fueled by fear. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-09-04 15:51 |
| #11 Thank you all. Atlas Shrugged does have a lot of info. I am glad she got away alive. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2009-09-04 13:30 |
| #10 I read this as she's highly intelligent to have figured out to set one religion against another fir her own safety, Most 17 year olds don't have this quality of reasoning available in their heads, most would simply die and be unnoticed. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-09-04 12:49 |
| #9 I suspect Frozan Al is onto something. She's 17 and desparate to get out of the situation she was in and this option was what she felt was best. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2009-09-04 12:40 |
| #8 as a minor, and against her father's wishes, she would have had the full support and protection of the state if she was just trying to get an abortion |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-04 12:25 |
| #7 Whiskey Mike, Atlas Shrugs has been commenting on this issue extensively. Apparently the girl had been beaten on many ocasions and had the bruises to prove it. This HAD been referred to the juvinile authorities several times, and they sent here back to her parents. My take on this is that it is a fairly conventional parental physical abuse case. The only complication seems to be that the Ohio child protective services are afraid to appear "culturally insensitive" and are thoroughly intimidated by the Muslim Thing. As for the "Kooky Christian Sect", the girl does not seem particullarly attached to it. The only reason she went there was because she and some members had exchanged emails. They were the only people she knew outside the state of Ohio. |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2009-09-04 11:42 |
| #6 The police would not have protected her, they would have referred her to juvenile authorities. A social worker would then have investigated. She might have been put into a foster home or group juvenile home for a period of time, but if the parents And then she would have accidentally fallen on a kitchen knife. Whereas, getting away from the home to another state is pretty smart -- now the Florida juvenile authorities are involved, and any time you get more bureaucrats involved, the slower things are going to move, as witnessed. That's smart if her goal is to run out the clock. Just wondering why she didn't try to get the court to declare her an emancipated minor. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-09-04 10:53 |
| #5 Oh, and once she is 18, if her family or others in her mosque do anything to try and get to her, she will need to go the equivalent of witness protection. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-04 09:57 |
| #4 What she did was very smart. The police would be neutral in the deal, but the religious people would advocate for her. And across State lines, any good lawyer should be able to run the clock out for a year. The worst threat she faces is if some organization like CAIR leans on a politician to do an Elian Gonzalez, in exchange for support by Muslims. But being in a different State makes that very unlikely. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-04 09:55 |
| #3 If they don't recognize the situation as dangerous, then yes they would send her back. As for the on-line connection, on-line contact is considerably less intimidating that walking into a building, and less likely to be noticed by parents. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-09-04 09:47 |
| #2 Whiskey Mike: Well, if I had to choose where to go for protection, the police or a religious group, my choice would be the latter...do you think that the PC indoctrinated police understand that a father is capable of killing a daughter for such things? |
| Posted by: HammerHead 2009-09-04 09:43 |
| #1 Anyone else get the feeling that this doesn't make sense, and that there is a lot more to the story? If the father threatened to kill the daughter, why did she go to a rather radical sounding church in Florida instead of the police? Are/were the Columbus police likely to throw her back into a life-threatening situation? (dalmer comes to mind here.) |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2009-09-04 08:47 |