Fathima Rifqa Bary, teenage girl in religious/custody dispute, will return home to Ohio.

[alp227]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-rifqa-bary-convert-hearing-101309,0,1325695.story

Judge: Rifqa Bary will go back to Ohio
by Amy L. Edwards and Sarah Lundy
Orlando Sentinel

An Orange Circuit Judge said he will return a teenage runaway from Ohio back to Ohio but only after her immigration status is settled and only after ensuring she can continue her schooling at "virtural school" in Ohio.

At a hearing this afternoon in Orlando to determine the immediate future for Fathima Rifqa Bary, judge Daniel Dawson asked that her parents -- from whom Rifqa ran in July -- submit all the paperwork necessary to settle any immigration issues.

The family is from Sri Lanka but lives and works outside Columbus, Ohio.

snip

Rifqa attended the hearing but used the time in the courtroom to read her Bible.

She has been in Orlando since mid-July when she boarded a Greyhound bus and left Ohio. She arrived in Orlando and took up residence with husband and wife pastors that she met through a prayer group on the Internet social networking site, Facebook.

The 17-year-old said she left her Muslim family because she feared they would harm or kill her because she converted to Christianity.

Her family has said her fears are unfounded.

But the conflict spilled into the courts after the Department of Children and Families became Rifqa's custodian.

The case is also in court-ordered mediation, but no agreement has come from it, Dawson learned today.

A judge from Ohio said sat in via speaker phone, as did Rifqa's Ohio attorneys, her parents' attorney, Ohio media, someone from the Franklin County (Ohio) children services, someone from the prosecutor's office and a guardian ad litem.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I hope that girl gets some counseling and can continue her life.

[LeftinOH]

2. A few years ago a (young, Muslim) waitress in this area was murdered

by two of her male cousins -in what is referred to as an "honor killing". Her "crime"? She didn't change her religion, but some relatives thought it was just as bad: Getting a place of her own, going to school & having a boyfriend. (This happened in Ohio, btw- happened just a few blocks from me)

[Heddi]

3. This is local to me (live in St Pete)

and the St Pete Times has run a whole bunch of stories on this case on a regular basis, and I think I've read them all, and have come to the conclusion that the girl is a dispicable liar who is looking for attention. One thing I remember off the top of my head is when she was explaining how horrible and oppressive her parents were, she said she had to hide being a cheerleader from her father because he would have beaten her if he found out.

However, there was a picture of her in a cheerleading uniform on display on a shelf in the living room...

It seems like everything she has said has been proven to be an outright lie.

It appears that she was a minority in her predominantly white, Christian school, and wanted to fit in, so she converted to Christianity. But for all accounts and purposes, her parents didn't care one way or the other. She wasn't punished or beaten or anything.

[charlie]

4. Oh, ain't this fucking swell

We've got a family who may or may not be anxious to kill their apostate kid, a teenager who may or may not be lying about her parents and/or her conversion, End Time nutters who believe Israel is the lynchpin for the Christ's return and their conservative lobby lawyers, and an idiot governor who is "grateful" for the opportunity to stand tall for All-American Jesus. Plus, the attention of 2 state governments, a slavering media, and possibly the White House. All for what is at root, a Coke-Pepsi taste challenge between 2 flavors of God.

And not one fucking grownup in sight. Fucking swell.

Sorry. Every once in a great while, the inanity of religion just snatches my last nerve. This is one of those days.