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Judge: Muslim teen who converted to Christianity stays in Florida for now
By
Rene Stutzman
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
A judge Friday ordered a 17-year-old girl who ran away from her Muslim family in Ohio to stay exactly where she is — in Florida — until the Florida Department of Law Enforcement can find out whether her family's home is safe.
Moments earlier, Fathima Rifqa Bary, now an evangelical Christian, told Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson she wants to visit her brothers but not her parents.
All five were in court Friday — her father in a business suit and her mother in a long dress with her head covered by a scarf. Through their lawyers, her parents asked that she be sent back to Ohio. They had agreed to let her move into a foster home there.
But Rifqa's lawyer told the judge that's not what she wants. She wants to stay here with her foster family until she turns 18 next August, said attorney John Stemberger, a conservative Christian activist and leader of Family Policy Council.
She loves Jesus, she told the judge, and wants to be free to worship without fear of being beaten and killed.
She ran away last month, she said earlier, because her father had threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity.
On Friday, her father, Mohamed Bary, a jeweler, told the judge he just wants his daughter home and she would be free to practice any religion she chooses.
Stemberger told the judge Rifqa's father wasn't the real threat. The threat is from radical Muslims in Columbus, where the family lives, he said. The community is a center for suspected terrorists, he said, and Rifqa is now their target.
Before the hearing, Rifqa and her lawyers met with George Sheldon, secretary of Florida'sDepartment of Children and Families, the agency now in charge of her safekeeping.
He sat through the 50-minute hearing next to Gov. Charlie Crist's top lawyer, Rob Wheeler.
"I have one concern. The governor has one concern," Sheldon said afterward. "That's the safety of the child."
Sheldon and Wheeler, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, demonstrated the extraordinary amount of attention the case has drawn. It has prompted a flood of support for the girl and a backlash against Islam.
More than 400 people have sent e-mails to Crist demanding that he save the girl from what some describe as certain death. Crist has made no public statement — but Friday other politicians began to weigh in.
U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio issued a statement: "It is imperative that state officials use every legal tool at their disposal to properly evaluate Rifqa's best interests."
Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, a Republican, also issued a statement: "No one should have to fear for their lives because of their religious choices."
Rifqa activists held a small demonstration at the Orange County juvenile courthouse before the hearing, demanding that officials keep her in Florida.
And that's what the state of Florida, through DCF trial attorney Karlene Cole-Palmer, requested Friday and got from the judge — at least for the next two weeks.
For now, Rifqa will stay in the home of a Christian foster family and be home schooled while FDLE investigates any credible threats.
Sheldon said that investigation began Thursday. It should take about two weeks, Cole-Palmer said.
The judge ordered the teen back to court Sept. 3.
Rifqa sat quietly through the proceeding, at times reading from a Bible.
In a voice so small that it was, at times, difficult to hear, she told the judge she has been a Christian for four years and longs to practice her faith openly.
But she also said this, "I love my family. I love them so much."
There was little emotion during the hearing. The one exception was the girl's mother, Aysha Bary, who wiped tears from her eyes from time to time.
When the judge asked if she had anything to say, she began strongly but then got choked up.
"I love my daughter. I need my daughter back," she said. "I have two sons and only one daughter. I need my daughter back."
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