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Rifqa Bary: Judge says 17-year-old Muslim-to-Christian convert must stay in Florida
FDLE to investigate her family in Ohio
A judge today ordered a 17-year-old girl, who ran away from her Muslim family, to stay exactly where she is -- here -- until the Florida Department of Law Enforcement can find out whether her home is safe.
Moments earlier, Fathima Rifqa Bary, now a Christian, told Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson she wanted to visit her brothers but not her parents.
All five were in court today -- her father in a business suit, 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 today that that's not what she wants. She wants to stay here and practice Christianity with her foster family until she turns 18, said attorney John Stemberger, a conservative Christian activist and leader of Family Policy Council.
She loves Jesus now, she told the judge, and wants to be free to worship without fear of being beaten and killed.
Her father, she said earlier, had threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity.
Today, her father, Mohamed Bary, a jeweler, told the judge that he just wants his daughter home and that she would be free to practice any religion she chooses.
Before the hearing, Rifqa and her lawyers met with George Sheldon, secretary of Florida's Department of Children & Families, the agency now in charge of her safekeeping.
Part of the reason for doing this announcement today is because some of the media coverage in this matter has been at best, inaccurate in parts, and at worst, just completely missing the point in the real issues in this case. They have focused on a young pastor and his wife, Beverly and Blake Moran, who have been pastors of a Methodist Church in this community for over 25 years. I don't personally know them, I know of them, and they did probably what any of would do in taking someone in who has indicated that their life was in danger. And we also have had one-sided soft stories on just the parents point of view that didn't ask any of the hard questions, or report on any of the allegations made in our original petition.
The primary issue in this case, is the clear and present danger that is presented by the Noor Center Mosque, and its ties to terrorist activity, and the parents, that is the Bary parents' devotion to, and relationship with, and regular weekly participation in the Noor Center. The memorandum we submitted in support of the petition of dependency that is before the court, just to give you some legal jargon, dependency actions are when the state is declaring whether or not the state is to declare a minor child dependent because of its need for protection. ...because of abuse, abandonment or neglect. And so when that happens, it doesn't mean paternal rights are terminated, it just means that the state takes custody of the child for the protecting them from the parents and the home environment.
Part of the reason for doing this announcement today is because some of the media coverage in this matter has been at best, inaccurate in parts, and at worst, just completely missing the point in the real issues in this case. They have focused on a young pastor and his wife, Beverly and Blake Moran, who have been pastors of a Methodist Church in this community for over 25 years. I don't personally know them, I know of them, and they did probably what any of would do in taking someone in who has indicated that their life was in danger. And we also have had one-sided soft stories on just the parents point of view that didn't ask any of the hard questions, or report on any of the allegations made in our original petition.
The primary issue in this case, is the clear and present danger that is presented by the Noor Center Mosque, and its ties to terrorist activity, and the parents, that is the Bary parents' devotion to, and relationship with, and regular weekly participation in the Noor Center. The memorandum we submitted in support of the petition of dependency that is before the court, just to give you some legal jargon, dependency actions are when the state is declaring whether or not the state is to declare a minor child dependent because of its need for protection. ...because of abuse, abandonment or neglect. And so when that happens, it doesn't mean paternal rights are terminated, it just means that the state takes custody of the child for the protecting them from the parents and the home environment.
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