AP says: "Jim Zorn, an agency attorney, says Bary's use of Facebook was one issue that led to the girl's situation." So now the Ohio court is officially accepting her father's construction of events, that the Christians in Florida who took her in had "brainwashed" her -- and apparently made her think that her father had threatened to kill her.
They are gambling with this girl's life, and leaving her no safety net in case they turn out to be wrong.
"Rifqa Bary returns to Columbus," by Meredith Heagney for the Columbus Dispatch, October 27:
Fathima Rifqa Bary is back in Columbus. The Florida Department of Children and Families said Franklin County Children Services took her into their custody just before noon.An Ohio court today ordered that authorities monitor telephone and Internet use of Fatima Rifqa Bary, the 17-year-old religious runaway who left Columbus for Orlando over the summer.
At a dependency hearing today, both sides in the case agreed to continue the case until next month.
Her phone and Internet use will be monitored by Franklin County Children Services....
"Jim Zorn, an agency attorney, says Bary's use of Facebook was one issue that led to the girl's situation."
................
Well, it led to her continued survival.
Beyond that I'm just speechless.
The most ignorant rule the roost! You'd think they'd learn something wouldn't you - no they won't! Let's chase a balloon.
Call the Blue Jackets for protection detail. They'll bring big sticks. :)
This case is exactly why there needs to be somewhere these girls can run.
http://freemendo.typepad.com/undaunted/if-youre-a-scared-muslim-.html
LOL...now it's Facebook's fault? What else can we blame this incident on since no one is willing to look at the elephant standing next to the computer.
Here it is again ! And again & again...
Ohio Children Services official....etc.
Rifka's Blood on your hands !!!
Don't fool me around and don't try to hypnotize with :-
==="I think if she ever came back to New Albany, everyone would be so kind to her and no one would make her feel uncomfortable at all."===
Firing squad, Ready?
FIRE !!
Undaunted, you are - thank Heaven - where we should have been 20 years ago but we just didn't know. I realize you have to keep your guard up but I'll be trying to contact you to lend support. Not sure what I can offer but I know I can do SOMETHING. Until there is a world wide "1-800-BEA-KAFR" escape help service, we do what we can do. THANK YOU for your post. I've been hoping someone like you would show up here.
Wonderin1
Maybe these folks want to get involved.
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/asylum-program.aspx
Wonderin1:
freemendo@hotmail.com
I called Governor Charlie Crist's office twice.
This is why I turned the page in the last governor's race when Crist was the Republican candidate.
I don't know if folks remember Terri Schiavo, the young woman here in Florida. Schiavo was judicially dehydrated and starved to death while in a Hospice. She was fine. She was on a feeding tube. Her parents fought tooth and nail to take custody of Terri but pro-death activists would have none of it.
People nation-wide pleaded with then Attorney General Crist to look into this situation, being that her estranged husband who fathered a couple of children with his live-in girl friend wanted Terri dead.
Crist refused to lift a finger to help Terri. We protested Crist outside the Hilton when he was invited by our local GOP for their annual Lincoln Day Dinner / fund raiser. Crist did not lift a finger to help Terri. Attorney General Crist refused to investigate. Crist is pro-abortion and apparently pro-euthanasia.
What did Crist do to help Riqfa? Did he intervene? This is why conservatives here in Fla. are supporting Marco Rubio, Crist's challenger, in the race for US Senate. They are saying Newt Gingrich is king of the RINOs. So is Charlie Crist.
You can be sure that everyone who is anyone in organized Islam in this country has told the family, has told everyone connected with the Noor Mosque -- don't touch a hair on the head of Rifqa Bary. In the end, we'll settle with her. But not right now. Not now. Too many people are watching, laser-like.
But I don't think that excuses the Judge, because I don't think the Judge understands that if she is unharmed, it is not because there was never a threat in the first place, but only because now the family and the mosque are under a microscope, and the image of Islam, the Greater Good of Islam, will in this case save the girl from harm. What happens later on, or if she is somehow inveigled into, or forcibly has to accompany the family back to Sri Lanka (they might just go), out of sight of Western newsmen, whose attention span is the insect of an hour, well...
Your site is a continuing source of excellent information.
Maybe the best thing to do now is see if the Human Rights First group, linked above, might care to take a look at this case.
What I just sent to HRF is below. If you write, please express your willingness to donate to a defense fund, if HRF can't or won't work pro bono on this one. And, thank you, Robert, for making this forum possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Urgent Request Vis Honor Killing
I'm asking that you take a look at the Rifqa Bary case, now in Ohio jurisdiction. I'm sure you're familiar with the case.
If you can intervene on her behalf, to save her life, that would be great. If pro bono isn't possible in this case, I believe a legal defense fund can be set up to pay you for your services.
Undoubtedly you're right, Hugh. This window of safety will only last as long as it takes for the publicity to die down, at least while she is in this country. If she is returned to Sri Lanka then of course retribution could be immediate.
Undaunted, I hope you are able to get HRF involved. Please keep us posted here and over at Atlas if they do and if a legal defense fund is set up.
Undoubtedly you're right, Hugh. This window of safety will only last as long as it takes for the publicity to die down, at least while she is in this country. If she is returned to Sri Lanka then of course retribution could be immediate.
Undaunted, I hope you are able to get HRF involved. Please keep us posted here and over at Atlas if they do and if a legal defense fund is set up.
Eastview, maybe you can send a quick note to HRF. And, if you'd like to make the suggestion at AtlasShrugs, that would be fine. I'm still blocked over there... I think.
Apparently when your under the age of 18 your testimony is worth less than if you where over 17 years of age. That kind of sounds a little familiar---- Sharia law: "A womens testimony is worth half that of a man". What this basically says is ; you have very little ability to defend yourself from the threat of death in a US Court if you are under the age of 18 and you are forced to submit to so-called people in the legal system who quite frankly have very little knowledge of Islamic practices.
Would you let someone fly you in airplane who really had not training? The analogy works for me in the case of Rifqa Bary. And yet if something tragically happens to this young apostate the authorities will wash their hands with the all to common statement "well the Governments not perfect" . In a way the Florida Judge and his reliance on the FDLS along with the Ohio authorities kind of reminds me of a fellow named Pontius Pilot.
Sorry about the double post - TypePad is somewhat inconsistent in how it works...
About Rifqa's return: "Her phone and Internet use will be monitored by Franklin County Children Services...." I wonder how they intend to do this in practice? She could easily be denied a cell phone, but will someone follow her at every step and make sure she doesn't use a public phone? She could be denied use of a computer, but again how would that be done? And if she does use one how could she be stopped from accessing the Internet and going to wherever she likes? What is the punishment for infraction of these rules? Is the family she was placed with in Ohio under court orders to act as their enforcer, and how, exactly, would this work? How long will she remain with this family? Until she is eighteen, or will she be forced to move back in with her family?
Imagine yourself in Rifga's situation. She was torn from the loving arms of the family protecting her in Florida and removed from the circle of friends who were willing and able to shelter and protect here. Is she denied all communications with them? What "visitation privileges" do her parents now have, and who will monitor their behavior, not just their outward public behavior but what happens behind closed doors when they are alone with her? One imagines that the Noor mosque is very keen to have a go at Rifqa, but are members from whatever committee they almost certainly formed in response to this "emergency" similarly restrained from visiting her? If not, who is monitoring that, and who will act to intervene on her behalf when pressure is inevitably ramped up for her to renounce her Christianity and return to Islam? (Imagine the publicity coup for CAIR if she caves to this pressure and actually does this.) Does she have any rights of refusal in who she comes into contact with, or is this regulated by her family?
There are twenty-four hours in a day, and if I try to imagine how Rifqa must now be spending those hours I become very depressed. This is a very unstable and dangerous situation and I hope that her friends are able to find a way to extricate her from it.
I had a short debate with the author of a long piece on Loonwatch, one Danios, who argues in favour of Bary's return to her parents, on the ground that that apostasy is not punishable by death in Islam, at least by "reform-minded Muslims", who are referred to throughout his 10,000+ word piece. My last post was not published on LW, as Danios wants to save him/herself for debating the likes of Spencer et.al.....
So I posted my response here:
http://thebattleoftours.blogspot.com/2009/10/merda-taurorum-animas-conturbit.html
Let's hope that Rifqa's lawyers tie this thing up in the courts and keep her in Franklin County Children Services until she turns 18, when can go where she wants.
Meeker, excellent comment you attempted to post over at LoonWatch. Their not publishing it is fully in keeping with what appears to be their policy of censorship of intelligent and rationally argued dissenting opinions. Most of the comments on LoonWatch stories are of the cheerleading kind, almost certainly from fellow Muslims. What dissenting views they do post seem to be ones that are selected according to whether they satisfy a "see how idiotic these guys are?" criterion. Your original response certainly did not fit into that category, and I think they now regret posting it, not fully realizing what they had done. Obviously they are now taking steps to limit the effects of this camel nose so rudely appearing under the tent.
LoonWatch engages in censored advocacy "journalism" and provide an example of what the Fourth Estate would become if these guys are ever allowed to have their way with the First Amendment.
Stunned...(about the monitoring of her phone calls and internet use...)
Thanks for your comment Eastview. Yes, they do engage in censorship by "having the last word". The did the same in the case of the debate on apostasy between Spencer and prof Bassuouni, in which they posted only the prof's final comments, and not the later response by Spencer, which any fair-minded reader would conclude won the argument...
Jim Zorn--perhaps one day he will be charged as an accessory to first degree murder.
Seems to me that the parents are the ones who ought to be monitored. At the very least the judge should have required video cameras in every room of the house.
Dear God, do these people WANT her to die? What is wrong with them?!
This poor girl. I cannot imagine how scared she must feel.
Mackie says: In a way the Florida Judge and his reliance on the FDLS along with the Ohio authorities kind of reminds me of a fellow named Pontius Pilot.
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Maybe the judge was afraid for his life. I mistrial should be called because I see a conflict of interest here. He is not representing Rikfa's best interest, but his own!
Mackie says: In a way the Florida Judge and his reliance on the FDLS along with the Ohio authorities kind of reminds me of a fellow named Pontius Pilot.
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Maybe the judge was afraid for his life. I mistrial should be called because I see a conflict of interest here. He is not representing Rikfa's best interest, but his own!
My heart breaks for this poor girl. These days, all a child has to do is imply that he/she is being abused by a parent, guardian, sibling, or other family member and the eager beavers at child services swarm like flies. Rifqua has witnesses to the bruises she suffered at the hands of her demonic muslim father, but their testimony is ignored and she is treated like a runaway, rebellious teenager.
As I understand it, she converted to Christianity several years ago and the people she fled to in Florida had absolutely nothing to do with it! They are being sued by the parents with help from the terrorists at CAIR. The American law enforcement and judicial systems remain in denial about islam, are constrained by political correctness, or are completely ignorant of the tenets of this evil religion. None of the three are acceptable. A child's life and future are at stake and she won't live to be eighteen unless she manages to escape her family, the "islamic" community, and the unbelievably stupid people who were supposed to protect her; those incompetent, ignorant government bureaucrats.
At the next hearing, I expect to learn that the family is leaving the country with their daughter. That will solve their "honor" and immigration problems, and she'll be dead the day they return to Sri Lanka. They'll probably kill her in the car during the drive home and throw her body in a ditch and if anyone should ask, say she ran away when they arrived at the airport. The blood thirsty islamic community and her family will celebrate another sacrifice to the god of the underworld, allah.
"My heart breaks for this poor girl." ...mine, too, susan, mine too; and to think that when we were her age we were focused on prom and what college we would attend ...who we would marry -- or not, and the kind of future we hoped to have, married or not.
Rifqa, on the other hand, must learn how to survive! At 17 she won't be fretting over who will invite her to prom, but will be worrying over whether or not she will see tomorrow. My gawd, I could not imagine what that must be like for her.
Recently I saw an interview on 60 Minutes ..at least I think it was 60Min ...of Drew Barrymore and her troubled life ..perhaps you saw it. Drew did not face death threats from her father, but she did face many dangerous situations involving drug abuse that could have RESULTED in death as a direct result of her parents neglect. Anyway, she ended up divorcing her parents -- divorcing them!, but later found happiness through rebuilding a happy life and her own family through others -- others that genuinely loved and cared for Drew. I hope the same for Rifqa, I really do. We are praying for you, sister Rif!
Meeker,
Nice work. You note the loophole in the quote from the Sunni site: “To Shaykh Tantawi [Grand Imam of al-Azhar], a Muslim who renounced his faith or turned apostate should be left alone as long as he does not pose a threat or belittle Islam”.
Tantawi's successor, Gomaa, said essentially the same thing, and this was documented on Jihadwatch. What this amounts to is an agreement with the position of those jurists who believe that apostates should not face the death penalty unless they apostatize publicly (i.e., tells other people about it). For it is in apostatizing publicly that the apostate "endangers" the beliefs of the Muslim community and insults Islam and Muhammad.
(Note also that Egypt does in fact penalize apostates in various ways, though it stops short of the death penalty. And the problem of vigilantes killing apostates remains).
It is important to see that the penalty for public apostasy in Islam is tied to the blasphemy penalty. Public apostasy by a Muslim amounts to blasphemy, for which the penalty is up to and including death.
When dealing with apologists like the one you dealt with, it is useful to raise the connection with the blasphemy penalty. Many of these apologists superficially deny the penalties for apostasy, but in fact support penalties for blasphemy. Public apostasy, encouraging others to apostatize, explaining the critical reasons why one left Islam, etc., amount to blasphemy. Nevertheless, even among those few apologists who claim that Islam allows free expression including criticism and lampoon of Islam and Muhammad, it can be pointed out that theirs is a tiny minority view and that mainstream Islam demands penalties for blasphemy and most Muslims want penalties imposed on those who criticize Islam or "insult" Muhammad.
So apologists who deny the apostasy penalty are burdened with also denying the blasphemy penalty. To deny the blasphemy penalty, they have to come out and say that they support free expression to the extent that Islam and Muhammad can be criticized, lampooned, etc., but few of them are willing to go that far. Maintaining the penalties for blasphemy is too important to their project of defending and spreading Islam.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Kinana of Khaybar. I must search out Gomaa's sayings on JW
I guess poor Ms Bary is also burdened with the fact that what she's done is not only apostasy, but, from your descriptions above, most likely also "blasphemy" since she has done it so publicly. Important point.
Cheers
"These days, all a child has to do is imply that he/she is being abused by a parent, guardian, sibling, or other family member and the eager beavers at child services swarm like flies. Rifqua has witnesses to the bruises she suffered at the hands of her demonic muslim father, but their testimony is ignored and she is treated like a runaway, rebellious teenager." -- comment from susanp
I have no doubt that the child protective services is thoroughly willing to defer to CAIR on this matter, all in the spirit of not offending Muslim sensibilities. But from what I've read it appears part of the problem was the judge in Florida. He had it in his power to throw out the suit brought by Mohamed Bary. Indeed, he could have had him arrested on any number of grounds related to his being here illegally and deported, while at the same time ordering that Rifqa be allowed to stay and apply for refugee status.
I sincerely hope there is activity going on behind the scenes by Rifqa's friends to spirit her far, far away from Ohio, and soon, and help her to build a new life.
What she needs to do is run away again at the earliest opportunity. And stay hidden until she turns 18, which is less than a year.
Clearly, the state isn't going to protect her or her rights, and has sold her out to islam.
It's happened, people. islam is now our state religion.
I forgot to add... What she really needs is some advice. Rifqa needs to flee to a state that has laws that allow a minor to petition for emancipation (ie: separation from her parents).
And a legal defense fund.
Rifqa has a legal defense fund. You can donate to it here:
Fathima Rifqa Bary Trust
c/o Michael A. O’Quinn, Trustee
28 West Central Boulevard, Fourth Floor
Orlando, Florida 32801
Checks or money orders should be made payable to “Fathima Rifqa Bary Trust.”
At the Freedom of Speech and Religion Conference in D.C. yesterday Pamela and others said that they will take the fight to Ohio. I believe the phrase was. "Let's go to Ohio!" Rifqa still needs money for her defense. It ain't over yet folks.
For those Jihad Watchers who believe in pray, let's double our efforts. I know that God listens to the prayers that I pray because He answers me all the time. Rifqa believes this too and if we all join together we can send her encouragement, protection and love. Think about St. Peter in prison sleeping between two Roman soldiers when an angel came and got him out, his chains miraculously fell off and the angel lead him out of prison and back to his friends. God's arm is not shortened just because Rifqa's parents are liars, CAIR is involved and it looks dark right now. We need courage and faith, big time, and we can change the outcome of this seemingly hopeless case.
Remember, nothing happens by chance and miracles happen everyday. Let us pray for one for Rifqa.