FATHIMA (RIFQUA) BARY - 16 yo (2009) - Columbus OH

Columbus police issued an endangered missing child alert late Thursday.



Fathima Rifqa Bary, 16, was seen last at her North Side home Sunday, July 19.

Fathima is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 90 pounds.

She has black eyes and hair.

Columbus police said what she was wearing when she was seen last was unknown.

Officers also said Fathima may have been near the OSU campus Sunday, July 19.

Anyone with information on Fathima’s whereabouts was encouraged to call CPD’s missing persons unit at 614-645-2358.

Police on Friday were still looking for information about a central Ohio teenager who vanished
nearly two weeks ago.

Investigators said there is no evidence that Fathima Rifqa Bary, 16, is a victim of foul play,
but they could not rule out that she is not in danger, 10TV's Maureen Kocot reported.
Bary, of New Albany, was last seen on July 19.
The teenager's cell phone has been turned off and her Facebook account deactivated, Kocot
reported.
According to police, the girl's friends told detectives that it was possible she ran away
because of conflicting religious beliefs in her home.
"If anybody is harboring her they are definitely in violation of at least one misdemeanor charge
that I know of, and that's interference of custody," said Columbus police Sgt. Jerry Cupp.
Investigators said Bary is affiliated with two central Ohio churches: one on Cleveland Avenue
and the other near the Ohio State University campus.
They also said Bary may have been seen near campus the night she disappeared.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to call Columbus police at 614-645-4545.

I'm not sure I have all the fact in the Fathima Rifqa Bary case. Here's some of the info I've read and have been told about.

The 16 year old girl lives in a Muslim household, but recently made some professions that she was converting to Christianity.

She was last seen on July 19th. Her facebook account has been closed
and her cell phone deactivated. Her friends are worried and claim this
isn't like her.

There is a missing persons report out on her, so I'm assuming that it was the family that filed the report.

There may be nothing in this related to her recent alleged
conversion to Christianity. She could be just a kid that ran away from
home for the normal reasons that kids run away from home. Or worse, the
victim of an abduction.

But as evidenced by the reports that saw fit to mention her recent
trips to churches in her community, some of her friends are worried
that her going missing has something to do with her recent conversion.

If nothing else, keep an eye out for her. Here's the missing persons report at the Ohio Attorney General's webpage.

Thanks to Cristi Li.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nearly three weeks after she was reported missing, a 16-year-old girl was found safe in Florida,
police said on Friday.
Fathima Rifqa Bary, of New Albany, was last seen on July 19, 10TV News reported.
According to police, Bary's friends told detectives that it was possible she ran away because of
conflicting religious beliefs in her home.
Investigators said Bary is affiliated with two central Ohio churches: one on Cleveland Avenue
and the other near the Ohio State University campus.
They also said Bary may have been seen near campus the night she disappeared.
Bary was found safe in Orlando, Fla. Arrangements were being made for her return to central
Ohio.

She looked more like a timid child clinging to her protector than an
Ohio teen runaway brazen enough to flee her Muslim family out of fear
for her life.

The girl, who turned 17 on Monday, is at the center of a custody
dispute in Orlando, where she sought help from a family she barely knew
-- a pastor and his wife willing to take in a teen who feared her own
family's retribution because she converted to Christianity.

The Orlando Sentinel is not identifying the teen because of her age.

The girl appeared before a crowded courtroom full of lawyers and
spectators on Monday when an Orange Circuit Court Judge ordered her
into Department of Children and Families emergency custody.

It was another in a series of legal decisions in a complicated case:
Beyond the girl's religious preferences, the court must solve
jurisdictional issues related to child services and courts.

In addition, the teen, a native of Sri Lanka, is not a U.S. citizen.

Her dispute with her family became news several weeks ago when the girl
ran away from her home in Columbus, Ohio. She hitch-hiked to a
Greyhound station and boarded a bus to Orlando.

Once here, she borrowed a cell phone to call Beverly Lorenz, who with
husband Blake Lorenz is a pastor of Global Revolution Church in
Orlando. The Lorenzes met the girl through a prayer group on Facebook.

Although the girl was a stranger, Beverly Lorenz told her they would
house her. The teen told the Lorenzes she feared her family would hurt
her, kill her or send her back to Sri Lanka, Beverly Lorenz said.

"We are doing everything we can to protect her," said Blake Lorenz, who said he has been told his life may be in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, the girl's parents reported to Ohio law enforcement
authorities that their daughter was missing. They put together a flier,
with her picture on it, asking for tips to her whereabouts.

Beverly Lorenz said they called an abuse hotline, prompting a visit on
Friday from the Orlando police. Officers picked up the girl to be
placed in state custody.

The Lorenzes appeared in court with the teen Monday, as did her father from Ohio.

When the petite girl walked into court, she immediately bolted for
Beverly Lorenz, who held her. The teen then joined Blake Lorenz at a
table with lawyers. He comforted her throughout the entire hearing with
his arm around her shoulder.

Rosa Gonzalez, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told Orange
Circuit Judge Gail A. Adams the teen is in fear for her life. The sight
of her father makes the teen "frantic and hysterical," Gonzalez said.

The teen's father said little during the hearing.

Reached by a Sentinel reporter by phone, the girl's mother said little.
"Yes, of course" her daughter would be safe should a judge eventually
order her back there, she said.

And her father would not harm his daughter if she wanted to be a
Christian, the woman said. She referred other questions to her husband.
He did not answer his cell phone after the hearing.

Gonzalez said her organization, which sends pro bono lawyers to work on
cases involving Christian issues, is concerned the teen could be
returned to her parents.

"We don't take those threats lightly," she said.

Imam Hatim Hamidullah, with the Islamic Society of Central Florida,
said the Muslim faith does not call for a father to hurt his child,
should she convert to another religion.

"It is not Islam for the father to bring harm upon his blood daughter
or any other human being because of anger," he said.
"Our position is to exhaust all measures that would bring peace and
harmony back to the family," Hamidullah said. "Being angry and
threatening the life of someone is not one of those methods."

A DCF spokeswoman said the agency is working with Ohio officials to ensure the teen's "safety and well being."

Attempts to talk to the teen after the hearing were unsuccessful -- her
legal guardians ushered her out of the building without letting her
speak to a reporter.

On a baby sitter Web site, the girl described herself this way: "One of
my favorite things to do in my spare time is cheerleading for my high
school and of course tumbling as well. I have a little brother who is
about to turn 5 years old. With this, I have had a lot of experience
with toddlers and many years of sitting for him."

Blake Lorenz, who retired after serving as pastor at Pine Castle United
Methodist Church for several years, said the teen believes her dad will
kill her.

"We are doing everything we can to protect her," he said.

Lorenz said he has been told his life may be in jeopardy.

After Monday's hearing, Blake Lorenz said he was relieved the teen is
not returning back to her family in Ohio immediately, but he's still
cautious. He's "very concerned that the system will let her down."

A Northeast Side 17-year-old who ran away, saying that her father would
kill her for leaving Islam, is in state custody in Florida. But Sgt. Jerry Cupp of the missing-persons unit of the Columbus
police special-victims bureau, disputes Fathima Rifqa Bary's
allegation. He said her father, Mohamed Bary, appears to be a loving
parent who knew about her conversion to Christianity months ago.

The New Albany High School cheerleader, who goes by Rifqa,
disappeared on July 19, prompting fears that she had been abducted,
Cupp said.
Authorities soon found that she was staying with a married couple who pastor a church in Orlando.
"She was petrified that her dad would kill her," said the Rev.
Beverly Lorenz, who leads Global Revolution Church in Orlando along
with her husband, the Rev. Blake Lorenz.
Mrs. Lorenz met the girl through a Facebook prayer group. Lorenz
barely knew the girl, she said, but took her in when she called from a
borrowed cell phone in Florida.
"She hopped on a bus, and from what she said, she wanted to get the
farthest away she could get, and Florida was the farthest," Lorenz
said.
On Monday, a judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida
placed the girl in the custody of the state's Department of Children
and Families. She is in foster care and safe, said Elizabeth Arenas, a
department spokeswoman.
The girl told investigators that she was afraid her parents would
kill her, but the investigation is ongoing, so Arenas couldn't comment
on whether the girl's claim is credible.
Cupp has interviewed the father several times, he said, and doesn't think the man is a threat.
"The parents knew months ago that she was … going to different
religious, Christian functions," Cupp said, and there's no evidence
that they threatened her with violence.
It "seems outlandish to me," he said, "but that's not for me to decide. We'll gladly let the courts work this thing out."
The children's services department in Florida is investigating the
case along with Franklin County Children Services, Arenas said. Another
court hearing is set for Aug. 21, and eventually, a judge will
determine who will care for the girl.
Phone calls to a listing for Mohamed Bary were not returned.

The Muslim parents of an Ohio teenager who fled to Florida fearing an "honor killing"
for converting to Christianity today blamed their daughter's fears on
the husband and wife pastors who took their daughter in and didn't
report her presence for more than two weeks."Neither
Mr. or Mrs. Bary have ever threatened the life of their daughter, and
patiently await their daughter's safe return," Craig McCarthy, a lawyer
for Mohamed Bary and his wife, said in a statement issued today to
"Good Morning America."
Fathima Rifqa Bary, who goes by Rifqa, left home in New Albany,
Ohio, last month and hopped on a bus to Orlando to meet with husband
and wife pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz, who she met through a Facebook prayer group for the couple's non-denominational Global Revolution Church.
The couple have become the 17-year-old girl's biggest allies, saying
she has told them that her father threatened to kill her when he found
out she had secretly become a Christian.
"To anyone's knowledge, Rifqa never told anyone that she was
frightened while living with her parents in Ohio. Those words only came
out of her mouth after being missing for two and a half weeks and
surfacing in the tight embrace of Mr. Lorenz, who had not promptly
reported that the runaway had been in his home," the parents' statement
read.
Lorenz could not immediately be reached today for comment, but told
ABCNews.com Tuesday that he and his wife weren't even aware Rifqa's
parents had reported her missing until she'd been at their house for
more than two weeks.
Bary is now in Florida fighting to bring his daughter home. A
judge Monday ordered Rifqa to remain in the custody of the Florida
Department of Children and Families while authorities in that state and
Ohio determine whether or not she'd be safe at home.
"If this case is perceived as a clash of religions, it is
because Mr. Lorenz recklessly and without authorization put someone
else's child in front of television cameras to publicly renounce her
previous faith," McCarthy said in the statement. "The parents who love
Rifqa are in the best position now to protect her from the mess that
Mr. Lorenz has made."
But Lorenz told ABCNews.com Tuesday that they were the people Rifqa sought out for protection.
Lorenz said Rifqa, a native of Sri Lanka, had secretly converted from
Islam to Christianity four years ago, but her religion was only
discovered recently. Rifqa had snuck out to an area church where,
according to Lorenz, she had an "incredible encounter with Jesus."
Lorenz said Rifqa was so moved she posted about it on her
Facebook page, writings that would later be seen by her friends from
her family's mosque and reported to her father.
"That's when he threatened to kill her for the first time," Lorenz said, adding that he didn't know on how many other occasions that threat had been made.
The battle allegedly came to a head about a month ago, Lorenz
said, when Rifqa's mother found a Christian book in the house while
Bary was out of town. Rifqa's mother, he said, threatened to tell her
father.
"They have to kill me because I'm a Christian. It's an honor [killing]. If
they love me more than God, then they have to kill me," she explained.
Terrified and fearing she would be the victim of an honor killing,
she got on a bus and borrowed a cell phone to contact Beverly Lorenz
who she had been communicating with after finding the Lorenzes' church
on Facebook.
The pastors' first move was to call an attorney, several of them, actually.
"No one really knew what to do," Lorenz said, pointing out that
Rifqa was not only a minor, but that she had crossed state lines and
she wasn't even a U.S. citizen.
Blake Lorenz said Rifqa arrived late at night after a two-day trip. The
next morning, the couple called police for advice, but did not tell
them Rifqa's name. They did report Rifqa's presence two weeks later, he
said, when the couple realized the teen's parents had reported her
missing.
Lorenz said he fears Rifqa is "definitely not safe." He pointed to
other suspected honor killings in Muslim families, including two Texas
sisters who were murdered by their Muslim father Jan. 1, 2008, in what
some believed to be religion-fueled rage over the girls' Western ways.
Lorenz said he called the abuse hotline last Friday. Elizabeth
Arenas, a public information officer for Florida's DCF, said Rifqa is
now in foster care while Florida officials work with Ohio child
services to investigate the teen's claims.
"We just want to be sure she's going to be safe," Arenas said.
Rifqa is being represented by a lawyer with the Alliance Defense
Fund, a legal group that takes on conservative Christian causes.
The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21.
"When she saw her dad yesterday, she was scared to death," Blake
Lorenz told ABCNews.com on Tuesday. "She literally believes she's going
to be killed."
As for Bary, he said, "I don't want to make him out to be a monster, because I'm sure he's not."
Her parents were also given supervised visitation rights, but
only at the discretion of their daughter. Arenas said she was unsure if
Rifqa had met with her parents since the hearing.
"I don't want to see my father," she told WFTV.

The New Albany teenager recently found after disappearing July 19
is staying with a foster family in Florida, officials at Florida
Department of Children and Families say.

Carrie Hoeppner, the communications director for the department, said a judge gave the
department custody of 17-year-old Fathima Rifqa Bary on Aug. 10.

This all comes after Bary fled from the New Albany area to Florida to stay
in the home of Pastor Blake and Beverly Lorenz of Orlando's Global
Revolution Church.

In an interview with ABC Orlando affiliate
WFTV, Bary said she ran away because her father, Mohamed Bary, had
allegedly threatened to take her life in an "honor killing" because the
teen had converted from Islam to Christianity.

"In initial concerns with the young lady, it became clear that there were
circumstances in why she had fled Ohio. It was clear that she was in
fear of her personal safety, from both her family and her religious
community," Hoeppner said.

Investigators with the department have talked with the teen several times, Hoeppner added.

"We didn't feel it was appropriate to send her back," she said.

Her mother, Aysha Bary, filed a missing person report with the Columbus Division of Police on July 20.

The Orlando Police Department received information tipping them off to the
teen's whereabouts and police found Bary at an area residence on Aug. 7.

A hearing has been set for Friday, Aug. 21 in the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.

It will determine whether or not the case should remain in the Florida
court system or move to Ohio's, said Craig McCarthy, Aysha Bary's
attorney.

Mohamed Bary has been appointed a separate lawyer,
Barbra Joyner, by Florida's Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil
Regional Counsel, 5th District.

Joyner declined to comment on the case.

"I only represent the mom, and I am only speaking for the mom, but the
parents were very clear that she was never in threat of great danger of
being harmed by them," McCarthy said. "They have been consistent on
that, and they have been consistently cooperative with their lawyers
and with social services."

McCarthy wasn't willing to speculate on the teen's motive for her claim.

"I have my theories about it and I am gathering evidence about it, but
it's most responsible for me -- especially because this concerns a
minor -- to just leave it as it is until such time that we can get a
trial and get a full hearing on that," he said.

Honor killing is an old custom that still exists in Muslim societies, said Georges
Tamer, a professor in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the Ohio
State University.

"As the name tells, it is unfortunately to kill a young woman in order to save or rescue the honor of the family," Tamer said.

There is nothing in the Quran that justifies "honor killing," Tamer said, however.

For a family to go through with such an action would depend on how
fundamental a family is, he said, noting that other religions, such as
Christianity, have been known to have similar customs. Converting from
Islam to another religion, being caught in an extramarital affair or
marrying someone outside of Islam are a few of the reasons that could
prompt a family to commit an honor killing, Tamer said.

Usually, a father or brother would perform the honor killing, and there's no specific way to commit the act, he said.

Hoeppner said her department has seen an outpour of support from various
religious organizations from across the county, mainly those of the
Muslim faith.

"There is a concern for her safety and well being.
We have heard that concern, and we are doing everything that we can to
ensure her safety," she said.

Currently, Bary's family may visit her, with supervision, but Hoeppner
said she did not know if the family has visited with Bary.

"This is a difficult case because while we have the young lady in Florida,
the allegation and circumstances are concerning Ohio," she said.

With that, officials at Franklin County Children Services are working with Florida's department on the matter.

"The good news is that you have two systems working together, with a family,
in order to determine what's best for her, with her input," she said.

Franklin County Children Services has talked with the Bary family, said Doris
Calloway Moore, the department's director of communications.

"Our goal is to try to heal any differences that are going on with this
family, and try to provide enough therapy and counseling so that
Fathima can be reunited with her parents." Calloway Moore said.

Calloway Moore said that her department has offered a plan to Florida's
department of children and services with bringing Bary back to Ohio,
but she would not disclose the specifics of the plan.

Mohamed and Aysha Bary did not return calls seeking for comment.

The Columbus Division of Police would not provide comment on the
investigation because the case is now in the hands of the courts, said
Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Columbus police spokesman.

Calls to Global Revolution Church were not returned.

"There is a concern for her safety and well being. We have heard that concern,
and we are doing everything that we can to ensure her safety."

A 17-year-old girl who fled to
Florida after converting from Islam to Christianity will almost
certainly be forced to return home to Ohio, experts say -- despite her
fears that she will become the victim of an honor killing for
abandoning her parents' faith.

Rifqa Bary, who hitchhiked to an Ohio bus station earlier this month and took
a charter bus to Orlando, remains in protective custody with Florida's
Department of Children and Families. A judge is expected to rule Friday
on the jurisdiction of the case, but several legal experts contacted by
FOXNews.com say the girl is bound to be sent back to Ohio.
"She'll be returned to the original jurisdiction," said Katherine Hunt Federle,
professor of law and director of the Justice for Children Project at
Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.
"She probably doesn't have a lot of options other than to return home."
Bary, a native of Sri Lanka who turned 17 earlier this month, is neither a
U.S. citizen nor a resident of Florida, so if her parents want her
returned to their home in New Albany, Ohio, that likely will occur,
experts said.
"She's living and residing in Ohio," Federle said. "Typically, what happens is, if a child runs
away and goes to another jurisdiction, she'll be returned to the
original jurisdiction."
If she is sent back to Ohio, Bary will not be allowed to live on her own, since the state does not have an emancipation statute.
Florida has such a statute, but it requires parental consent, according to Fred
Silberberg, a family law expert based in California who is familiar
with the case.
Given that legal hurdle, Bary likely will be returned to Ohio, where authorities could intervene
if they believe there is a threat or a basis to act, Silberberg said.
Rifqa fled to Florida after her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, learned that
she was baptized earlier this year without their knowledge. The parents
reported her missing to Columbus Police on July 19. Weeks later, using
cell phone and computer records, police tracked the girl to the Rev.
Blake Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution Church.
FOXNews.com's calls to Lorenz were not returned.
In an emotional six-minute interview with WFTV in Florida, Rifqa, who met
Lorenz through an online Facebook group, said she expects to be killed
if she is forced to return to Ohio.
"If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150 generations
in family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first — imagine the honor
in killing me.
"There is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's
in the Koran," said in the interview, which has been posted on YouTube.
Rifqa, who is seen wearing a large diamond cross during the interview, said
she had to hide her Bible "for years," and she repeatedly "snuck out"
to attend Christian prayer meetings. She referred to previous victims
of so-called honor killings, in which young Muslim women were murdered
for bringing dishonor to their families.
"They love God more than me, they have to do this," Bary told WFTV. "I'm
fighting for my life. You guys don't understand. … I want to worship
Jesus freely, that's what I want. I don't want to die."
Contacted by FOXNews.com, Mohamed Bary said he has no intentions of harming his daughter.
"I love my daughter and I want her to come back to the family," he said, declining further comment.
The Barys reportedly emigrated from Sri Lanka in 2000 to seek medical
treatment for Rifqa, who lost the sight in her right eye following an
accident at home.
Barbra Joyner, Mohamed Bary's lawyer, declined to comment on Rifqa's interview with WFTV but
said transferring the case back to Ohio will be in the "best interest"
of the girl.
Craig McCarthy, an attorney for Aysha Bary, agreed that the case should be moved back to Ohio and
added that the girl's mother is afraid for her safety.
"[Aysha Bary] has shifted to downright frightened, scared of what might
confront her publicly on Friday," McCarthy told FOXNews.com. "She is
scared for her family, of losing her daughter, of never knowing the
truth of what happened and for her own safety."
McCarthy said Rifqa's account of how she traveled to Florida has "holes in it,"
but declined to elaborate. He also declined to respond to allegations
that Bary's father abused the girl when he learned of her conversion to
Christianity.
Dr. Phyllis Chesler, an author and professor of psychology at the Richmond College of the City
University of New York, said she believes Bary will be in danger if she
is sent back to her parents.
"Anyone who converts from Islam is considered an apostate, and apostasy is a
capital crime," Chesler wrote FOXNews.com. "If she is returned to her
family, if she is lucky, they will isolate her, beat her, threaten her,
and if she is not 'persuaded' to return to Islam, they will kill her.
They have no choice."
Chesler, who wrote "Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?" for Middle East
Quarterly, said the tradition of such slayings is not fully understood
by most Americans, including those in law enforcement.
"She escaped from her family's brutal tyranny and shamed her family further
through public exposure," Chesler said. "Muslim girls and women are
killed for far less."

Prominent social conservative activist John Stemberger has made a
late and dramatic entry into the already volatile case of the Ohio teen
who ran away from her Muslim family saying she feared she would be
killed for converting to Christianity. In a petition to the juvenile court which will decide later
today whether Rifqa Bary, 17, should return to Ohio, Stemberger sought
to block her reunification with her family, alleging: "The child is in imminent threat of harm not only from her
parents but also from the extreme radical Muslim community in her
hometown of Columbus." It continued with allegations of her family's mental,
physical and sexual abuse. Stemberger said Rifqa should be kept from
her parents. The petition mentioned the mosque that Rifqa's parents go to
and called it "the largest cell of Al Qaeda operatives" in the Columbus
area. It listed the address of the Bary home in Ohio. Files in juvenile court cases typically are private, but
Stemberger's filing became public Thursday night, showing up as a link
on anti-Muslim Web sites like WorldNetDaily, The Silent Majority and
Atlas Shrugs. Rifqa Bary went missing on July 19 from her home near
Columbus, Ohio, and showed up on Aug. 10 on local TV in Orlando in the
arms of an evangelical preacher. "This is not just some threat!" she wailed. "This is reality, this is truth, this is reality!"
She's been in temporary foster care since then waiting for the
hearing set for this afternoon. For many in the evangelical Christian
community this is more than a dependency case — it's a life-and-death
battle in an ongoing culture war. Craig McCarthy, the court-appointed attorney representing
Rifqa's mother and a specialist in juvenile dependency cases, was
aghast at Stemberger's petition. Thursday he filed a motion in response, arguing that the
court should disregard Stemberger's petition and disallow his
representation of Rifqa and his appearance on Friday. McCarthy's motion challenges Stemberger's standing as Rifqa's
attorney. Stemberger, the motion said, wasn't there at the hearing on
Aug. 10 when she was put in temporary foster care. She's been in
undisclosed temporary foster care ever since. She is already being
represented by a court-appointed guardian ad litem. How did Stemberger
get appropriate access to her to enter into an attorney-client
relationship? And how did she okay it? She is, after all, a minor. McCarthy questioned the appropriateness of publicizing the
Barys' home address by allowing the motion to be linked to on the Web
sites. "It is reasonable to believe," McCarthy wrote in his motion,
"that Attorney Stemberger or his agents have encouraged and enabled the
public publishing of the document …" "My main point is," McCarthy said on the phone with the Times
around 11 p.m. Thursday night, "that he's publishing information about
the family on the Web. That's the thing that really set me off. I would
never do that. "If she gets reunited with her parents, nobody needs to know
where she lives," he said, "and if she doesn't get reunited, nobody
needs to know where they live." He said he was going to call the Florida Bar ethics hot line on Friday.
He said he had talked to Stemberger twice earlier Thursday evening.
The first time was to let him know that he had just filed a motion in response to his petition.
The second time, he said, was when Stemberger said he'd take down the link to the document if McCarthy withdrew his motion.
McCarthy said no.
While McCarthy was on the phone to the Times a different phone rang. It was Stemberger.
The conversation on McCarthy's end could be overheard:
"I appreciate that," McCarthy said. "I do."
The links to the petition from Stemberger's Web site were dead.
McCarthy's motion, though, he said, was still a go.
Stemberger is the president and general counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council. Orlando magazine
last month called him one of the 50 most powerful people in the city.
He's a leader in Florida's anti-gay marriage movement and doesn't
believe in teaching evolution "as scientific fact." After midnight Thursday night, Stemberger spoke with Times.
"I represent her," he said. "She's got a right to counsel."
He explained that he didn't enter into a contract with a minor. He's doing this for free.
He said he's met with Rifqa once, in person, along with the
supervising guardian ad litem, but wouldn't say whether he's talked to
her more by phone or other forms of electronic communication. As for McCarthy's motion?
"He's going to embarrass himself," Stemberger said. "He needs
to withdraw the motion or I'm going to embarrass him in court in front
of a national TV audience." Stemberger was asked about the allegations of the abuse. Where do those come from?
"Most of the things in this complaint," he said, "come directly from Rifqa."
And the allegations about the mosque and "the extreme radical Muslim community" and "the Al Qaeda operatives" in Columbus?
"It's public knowledge," Stemberger said. "You can go online and check it out."

A 17-year-old runaway who claims she
fled her Muslim family's home in Ohio because she feared becoming the
victim of an "honor killing" will stay in Florida — temporarily — a
judge ruled Friday.
Rifqa Bary, a Christian convert whose parents are Muslim immigrants from Sri
Lanka, will remain in foster care in Florida until another hearing is
held Sept. 3.
Rifqa fled to Florida after her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, learned that she was baptized
earlier this year without their knowledge. The parents reported her
missing to Columbus, Ohio, Police on July 19. Weeks later, using cell
phone and computer records, police tracked the girl to the Rev. Blake
Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution Church.
Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist weighed in on the mater Friday with the following statement:"I
am grateful to Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson for his decision to grant
Fathima Rifqa Bary the right to remain in Florida. ... We will continue
to fight to protect Rifqa's safety and wellbeing as we move forward."
In an emotional six-minute interview with WFTV in Florida, Rifqa, who met
Lorenz through an online Facebook group, said she expects to be killed
if she is forced to return to Ohio. "If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150
generations in family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first — imagine
the honor in killing me."
"There is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do
it. It's in the Koran," said in the interview, which has been posted on
YouTube.
Rifqa, who is seen wearing a large diamond cross during the interview, said
she had to hide her Bible "for years," and she repeatedly "snuck out"
to attend Christian prayer meetings. She referred to previous victims
of so-called honor killings, in which young Muslim women were murdered
for bringing dishonor to their families.
"They love God more than me, they have to do this," Bary told WFTV. "I'm
fighting for my life. You guys don't understand. … I want to worship
Jesus freely, that's what I want. I don't want to die."
Contacted by FOXNews.com, Rifqa'a father Mohamed Bary said he has no intentions of harming his daughter.
"I love my daughter and I want her to come back to the family," he said, declining further comment.
If sent back to Ohio, Rifqa would not be allowed to live on her own, since the state does not have an emancipation statute.
The Barys reportedly emigrated from Sri Lanka in 2000 to seek medical
treatment for Rifqa, who lost the sight in her right eye following an
accident at home.
Barbra Joyner, Mohamed Bary's lawyer, declined to comment on Rifqa's interview with WFTV but
said transferring the case back to Ohio will be in the "best interest"
of the girl.
Craig McCarthy, an attorney for Aysha Bary, agreed that the case should be moved back to Ohio and
added that the girl's mother is afraid for her safety.
"[Aysha Bary] has shifted to downright frightened, scared of what might
confront her publicly on Friday," McCarthy told FOXNews.com. "She is
scared for her family, of losing her daughter, of never knowing the
truth of what happened and for her own safety."
McCarthy said Rifqa's account of how she traveled to Florida has "holes in it,"
but declined to elaborate. He also declined to respond to allegations
that Bary's father abused the girl when he learned of her conversion to
Christianity.
Dr. Phyllis Chesler, an author and professor of psychology at the Richmond College of the City
University of New York, said she believes Bary will be in danger if she
is sent back to her parents.
"Anyone who converts from Islam is considered an apostate, and apostasy is a
capital crime," Chesler wrote FOXNews.com. "If she is returned to her
family, if she is lucky, they will isolate her, beat her, threaten her,
and if she is not 'persuaded' to return to Islam, they will kill her.
They have no choice."
Chesler, who wrote "Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?" for Middle East
Quarterly, said the tradition of such slayings is not fully understood
by most Americans, including those in law enforcement.
"She escaped from her family's brutal tyranny and shamed her family further
through public exposure," Chesler said. "Muslim girls and women are
killed for far less."

Rifqa Bary gets to stay in Florida — for now.Circuit Judge
Daniel P. Dawson ordered Friday afternoon in a hearing that the girl be
kept here as courts settle who gets custody of her. The judge scheduled
the next hearing in the case for Sept. 3.Bary is the 17-year-old
girl from near Columbus, Ohio, who fled to Florida on a bus last month
because she believes her Muslim family must murder her in an
Islam-dictated "honor killing" due to her conversion to Christianity.Her parents deny that. Mohamed and Aysha Bary say they don't want to kill her. They just want her home.The
judge on Friday also ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
to take the next two weeks to investigate abuse allegations the girl
has made against her parents. He also ordered mediation to start after
the next hearing.The hearing on Friday, cramped in a small
courtroom, capped a day of protests outside the courthouse and
statements from politicians from around the state. It was the latest in
this strange story of a teenage runaway turned custody battle set to
the drumbeat of a culture war.In the courtroom, the girl with
the twig-thin legs wore heavy rouge and spent most of the time reading
her Bible, while her mother sat across the way in a blue and purple
gown and headscarf wiping tears from her face."It's a good day,"
said John Stemberger, Rifqa's pro bono private attorney, who is also
one of the state's most prominent social conservatives.He said the judge "protected the child's safety."Two of Florida's top Republican politicians also lauded the decision."The
first and only priority of my administration is the safety and
well-being of this child," Gov. Charlie Crist said in a statement.House Majority Leader Adam Hasner said in a statement that the ruling saved her from "an unthinkable fate."All
of this started back on July 19 when Rifqa went missing in Ohio. She
stayed for nearly three weeks in the Orlando home of evangelical pastor
Blake Lorenz from the Global Revolution Church before he put her on
local TV on Aug. 10."My life is at stake!" she said in the seven-minute interview with Orlando's WFTV.She's been in foster care since.By
Friday, in an early afternoon news conference in front of the
courthouse, Tom Trento, from the Florida Security Council, a group that
says its aim is "securing Florida against terror," called the Bary case
"a watershed event."He said the girl, a cheerleader and an honor
student last year at New Albany High School in Ohio, was "a dead girl
walking" if the judge decided to send her home.Elsewhere outside
the courthouse, a husband and wife had signs and a megaphone, talking
about "Islamic creep" and the faith's "global revolutionary agenda."Others milling around said they were praying for the judge to keep this girl away from her parents.In
the hour-long hearing, attorneys for Rifqa and the state Department of
Children and Families argued that she should be kept in Florida, citing
threats to her safety back in Ohio."This can become the child's
home state," Krista Bartholomew, the girl's Guardian ad Litem, told the
judge, "if you truly believe it's in the child's best interest to
remain here."Stemberger, the girl's attorney, also said the girl
wanted to be here, not at home, and that she loves her foster mother,
who shares her Christian faith.DCF's attorney also supported keeping her here at least until after the investigation and mediation.Mohamed Bary's court-appointed attorney countered: "Rifqa," she said, "her entire life is in Ohio."The
Bary family came from Sri Lanka to the Columbus area in 2000 to seek
medical treatment after their daughter was blinded in her right eye in
an accident with a toy airplane.Her parents had signed papers in
Ohio with Franklin County Children Services, saying they would be okay
if she was brought back to the state and placed in a foster home for at
least 30 days."I love my daughter," her mother said in Friday's hearing, through tears, "and I need my daughter back."Her
father, a jeweler, reiterated what he's said for the last couple weeks:
"She's free to come and practice whatever religion she likes."Rifqa also spoke in the hearing."I just want to say I love my family, I love them so much," she said, "but I'm still in fear for my life."The
girl can have DCF-supervised visits, the judge decided, and Stemberger
said the girl wanted to visit with her brothers, but not with her
parents. That won't happen until mediation.During the hearing
Aysha Bary kept looking over at her daughter, again and again, hoping
to make eye contact. But the girl seldom looked up, keeping her head
down, reading her Bible.

The Muslim father of a runaway Ohio teen who converted to
Christianity says he believes the ordeal started with a gift he gave
her last fall - a laptop computer.

Mohamed Bary says his daughter Rifqa slept all day and stayed up all
night searching the Internet. Rifqa disappeared July 19 and is living
in Orlando with a pastor and his family.Authorities said the teen met him through an online Facebook prayer group.

The 17-year-old says she fears for her life because of her new faith.
Her father says she can practice Christianity and only wants her to
return home.

The case has attracted the interest of Christian activists who view it as a test of religious liberty.

A Florida judge says the teen will remain in foster care until a Sept. 3 hearing.

From the sidelines, the Muslim community watches the saga of Fathima Rifqa Bary with sadness and weariness.

Fathima Rifqa Bary, 17, reads the Bible in the courtroom of Circuit
Judge Daniel Dawson, on Friday, August 21, 2009. Bary ran away from her
Muslim family in Columbus, Ohio, saying she was afraid her father would
kill her for converting to Christianity

What looks to many Muslims like a family squabble between Muslim parents in Columbus, Ohio, and their runaway daughter in Orlando has become something of a new crusade by evangelical Christians.

The frustration for many Muslims in Central Florida is that the
accusations of one teenage girl who says she fears her father would
kill her for becoming a Christian has become a wholesale distortion of
their religion.

"We feel frustrated because this is a family problem of a certain
family, and the way it has been portrayed is defaming Islam and giving
a way, way negative picture of our religion," said Imam Tariq Rasheed,
director of the Islamic Center of Orlando.

In their advocacy of the 17-year-old girl, her defenders contend
that Bary's fears of being beaten or killed because she converted to
Christianity are real. The fundamentalists lobbying the state to allow
Bary to remain in Florida cite instances of "honor killings" where
women and girls who have shamed their families have been killed.

"There is a significant population, a growing population, of
extremist Muslims who take the Quran quite literally and apply it as
they have on this case," said Bary's attorney John Stemberger. "My
concern is she is literally a dead girl if she is sent back to Ohio.
It's only a matter of time until she disappears into the night."

Quran vs. law

Such a contention is a blatant misrepresentation of Islam, Rasheed said.

"There is not a single verse in the holy Quran that stops a person
from exercising the freedom of choosing his or her religion. There is
nothing about a punishment if you change your religion," Rasheed said.

Though there are Muslim nations where "honor killings" are
condoned, it is not for leaving Islam, said Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons,
assistant professor of religion at the University of Florida.
Non-Muslims often confuse "honor killings" with a provision in ancient
Islamic law that calls for capital punishment for Muslims who leave the
religion. But that law is applied by a court, not by individuals or
family members, as is the custom with "honor killings," which usually
involve adultery or fornication by unmarried women.

"They assume the law and the Quran are synonymous, and they are not," Simmons said. "The Quran is not a law book."

Fathima Rifqa Bary herself may be confused about the difference
between capital punishment under Islamic law and honor killings,
Simmons said.

Not all Muslim countries operate under Islamic law and not all
Muslim countries permit honor killings — just as not all states in
America have the death penalty. Sri Lanka, where Bary's parents are
from, does not use Islamic law in its judicial system, Simmons said.

'Islamophobia'

The custody battle between
Christian evangelicals in Florida and her Muslim parents in Ohio comes
at the same time an evangelical church in Gainesville
posted a sign that said "Islam is of the Devil" on its property.
Several children were sent home the first week of school for wearing
T-shirts with that message.

Both cases — equating Islam with evil and contending that Muslims
who convert to Christianity will be killed — feed into what Simmons
calls "Islamophobia."

"This plays into an irrational sense of fear among people who aren't familiar with the tenets of the faith," she said.

The portrayal of violent Muslims who want to kill their daughter
and devoted evangelical Christians who want only to save the soul of a
innocent child only perpetuates stereotypes of both Muslims and
Christians, said Claudia Schippert, associate professor of humanities
at the University of Central Florida.

"What is shameful in this entire ordeal is the way in which those
who should know better, and who profess quite different values
otherwise, are willing to repeat stereotypes and fuel fires of
ignorance and violence," she said of the Christians at the center of
this controversy.

On Aug. 21, Muslims began their monthlong observance of Ramadan.
During Ramadan, Muslims turn inward away from the distractions of the
everyday world that, these days, include the tug-of-war over a teenage
girl who has placed their religion on trial.

"With other communities, when an individual does something, it's
that individual," Rasheed said. "When it's a Muslim, it's Islam that is
the motivating factor."

The attorney for Rifqa Bary released information Monday that
portrays the girl's parents' mosque as a hotbed of Islamic extremists
with ties to terrorists.Bary is the 17-year-old girl from near
Columbus, Ohio, who fled to Florida on a bus last month because she
believes her Muslim family now must murder her because of her
conversion to Christianity.The next hearing in the controversial
custody case that some see as a key battle in a clash of cultures is
set for Thursday afternoon in Orlando.The first of two documents
released Monday is a 33-page, 130-footnote memo that says the leaders
of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin, Ohio, have links to
terrorist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida.The
second document is a two-page, 21-point affidavit from Bary in which
the girl describes her parents' active involvement in the mosque and
details some of the threats she says they've made against her.John
Stemberger, the prominent social conservative who is Bary's pro bono
attorney, said Monday in a conference call with reporters that he will
argue Thursday in court that Bary should be kept in Florida until she's
18."There is no question in my mind that if she's sent back to
Ohio it's only a matter of time before she slips away into the night,"
Stemberger said.Bary's parents' attorneys countered quickly."Guilt
by association is not the standard in a court of law," said Shayan
Elahi, the new Orlando pro bono attorney for Mohamed Bary."Religious bigotry," he said, "is unacceptable and un-American."Roger
Weeden, the new Orlando pro bono attorney for Aysha Bary, called the
memo "hearsay" and "totally inadmissible," and said it was "designed to
inflame passions and generate fear without any relevance towards
resolving the issues."Noor Center director Hany Saqr, identified
by Stemberger as a leader of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, denied all
the allegations in the memo, according to the Associated Press."At
our center we know that people accept Islam, some people accept
Christianity, some people accept Judaism," he said. "Based on our
religion we think that there's no compulsion to religion. Everybody has
the right to choose whatever religion he wants to."Rifqa was an
honor student and a cheerleader at New Albany High School. She went
missing on July 19 and lived in Orlando with evangelical pastors Blake
and Beverly Lorenz of the Global Revolution Church for almost three
weeks before authorities knew where she was."I want to worship Jesus freely," she said Aug. 10 in a local television interview. "I don't want to die."In
court on Aug. 21 in Orlando, she said she loved her parents, but still
was fearful for her life, and a judge ordered that she be kept here
until custody issues get settled.The judge also asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into the validity of her claims of abuse.She's staying now with a Christian foster family in Orlando.Her parents say they don't want to kill her."She's free to come and practice whatever religion she likes," Mohamed Bary has said.FDLE
and also the state Department of Children and Families had
investigators in Ohio last week. Investigators are hoping to be done by
Thursday's hearing.In the affidavit released Monday, Bary said
her father sought out the Noor Center, even though it was out of the
way and there were much closer mosques, and spent long hours there and
had mosque-related gatherings in their home.She also said in the
affidavit that she became a Christian on Nov. 18, 2005, at the Korean
United Methodist Church in Columbus. She described how she had to hide
her Bible in her house and sneak out to Christian meetings.Two months ago, she said, her father asked her if she'd become a Christian, got angry and waved her laptop over her head."If
you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me," he said,
according to the affidavit. "I will kill you! Tell me the truth!"

Mohamed Bary, the father of the Ohio teenager who ran away from home
saying her parents would kill her for converting to Christianity, says
he wants nothing more than to reunite his family.But he and his daughter seem further apart than ever.Tuesday
night, he said Rifqa, 17, is lying when she says that he spent hours
every weekend at a mosque that harbors Islamic terrorists and that he
had menaced his daughter with her laptop, saying: "If you have this
Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me. I will kill you!""It's totally a lie," he said by phone from his home near Columbus. "We're not like that."A
nearly monthlong investigation by Franklin County Children Services in
Ohio backs him up. Investigators there determined the allegations of
abuse were "unsubstantiated.""I only wish," he said, "that they'll be able to send my daughter back home."Today in Orlando a judge will hear arguments from attorneys on both sides about whether Rifqa should be returned home to Ohio.Rifqa
Bary went missing July 19. She fled by bus to Florida because she had
learned about Orlando evangelical pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz and
their Global Revolution Church on a Christian prayer group on Facebook.
The girl arrived at the Lorenzes' house on July 22. Authorities
didn't know where she was until Aug. 6. The Orlando Police Department
picked her up Aug. 7. She's been living with a Christian foster family
since Aug. 10.A judge in Orlando decided on Aug. 21 that she
should be kept in Florida until the custody issues get settled. He also
ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into
allegations of mental and physical abuse made against the Bary parents
and to determine the threat level for her at home.FDLE had
investigators in Ohio last week. So did the state Department of
Children and Families. The agencies' aim is to be done with their
investigations in time for the hearing today.Earlier this week,
John Stemberger, the Christian social conservative who is representing
Rifqa pro bono, filed a 33-page memo that portrayed the Noor Islamic
Cultural Center as a terrorist stronghold. If Rifqa is not killed by
her family, Stemberger has suggested, she will be killed by a member of
Central Ohio's "radical" Muslim community."It's only a matter of time," he said Monday in a conference call with reporters, "before she slips away into the night."FBI
spokesman Michael Brooks, who works out of the bureau's Cincinnati
office, which covers Columbus, too, said this week that he couldn't
comment on whether there are any current investigations into the Noor
mosque. But he did say this: Since Sept. 11, there have been three
prosecutions of terrorists with ties to Columbus — two of them in
Columbus, the third in Virginia with a link back to Columbus — and none
of those three trials, he said, included testimony about the Noor
mosque.In her affidavit, Rifqa was specific in her mentions of
the Noor mosque: her father drove 25 minutes to get there, even though
there were eight mosques closer to their apartment; he made her go to
youth meetings that lasted five hours; they went every Friday to
gatherings that lasted three hours; her family hosted mosque-related
meetings; her father was "very intent" on raising her in something she
termed "Original Islam."Mohamed Bary said this week he sometimes
goes to the Noor mosque with his family, but he also sometimes goes to
a different mosque, on Broad Street in Columbus, and he goes to any
mosque sparingly, he said, because more weekends than not he's on the
road for work as a jeweler at gem shows."Once every two months,"
he said, he goes with his family to a mosque. When they do go, they
don't go for hours, "30 minutes max on Friday," he said. And when he's
not there, he explained, his family typically doesn't go either,
because his wife doesn't drive. The director of the Noor mosque told
the Associated Press that he doesn't know the Bary family personally.Mohamed
Bary said he has known for at least a year that his daughter was
interested in Christianity. He said he had no problem with that, but at
times suggested that she also study Islam.They moved to this
country from Sri Lanka almost 10 years ago. At New Albany High School,
his daughter made nothing but A's and B's, and was a cheerleader,
dressed perkily in a maroon uniform — a westernized teenage girl, he
said, living in modern middle America.In the couple
months before she ran away, he said, her behavior started to change:
She stayed up late on the computer on Facebook, slept into the
afternoons, read her Bible alone on the balcony outside, and would be
sullen on rides in the car.He wasn't so much concerned that she
was going to Christian sites on the computer, he said, as he was
worried that the people she seemed to be talking to on Facebook were
older and male. Sometimes she got picked up by people he and his wife
had never met, he said, and the people didn't come to the door, which
made them uncomfortable."I never expected it to go this far,"
Mohamed Bary said this week. "I want my daughter to come home. I don't
care what she practices. It's okay. But I want us all to be together."

For now, Fathima Rifqa Bary is staying in Florida.

That was the biggest decision Thursday afternoon of Circuit Court Judge
Daniel Dawson, who also put a gag order on attorneys involved in the
case of the 17-year-old runaway from Ohio and then sent the case to
mediation.

Dawson made it clear he does not want the case -- which pits Bary, a
self-proclaimed Muslim who has converted to Christianity, against her
Muslim parents -- to be hashed out in a courtroom.

Bary ran away from home last month, hopping a Greyhound bus from
Columbus, Ohio, bound for Orlando and the home of the Lorenzes, local
pastors. Although her parents reported her missing to Ohio law
enforcement authorities, Florida's Department of Children and Families
took control of her two weeks ago.

She has been with a foster family since, fighting for the right to stay here and away from Ohio.

The judge ordered the case into mediation; issued a gag order to
attorneys; decided to keep a recently-issued seal on an investigative
report for 10 days; and said Bary will remain in foster care in Florida
for the immediate future.

John K. Cooper, director of the Central Region for DCF, said that
mediation will allow the parties to look at several different issues.
There are "very complicated issues at hand," he said.

"Its going to take a lot of work to get this family back together," he said.

Dawson set a pretrial hearing for Sept. 28.

The scene outside the courthouse was chaotic, with supporters on both
sides of a sensitive issue -- some have made this a case of Muslims vs.
Christians -- shouting at one another. News crews were joined by a
gaggle of amateur videographers.

In the courtroom, news came that the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement has finished a two-week investigation into Bary's family
following complaints by the girl that her father had issued threats
against her.

Roger Weeden, an attorney representing Rifqa's mother Aysha Bary, said
the investigation concluded there were no credible threats against the
daughter by the family.

Before he could finished, however, Weeden was cut off by Bary's Rifqa's
appointed Guardian Ad Litem, Krista Bartholomew, who reminded the court
that the document was under court seal.

Bartholomew, said the teen was questioned recently by FDLE investigators with no attorneys present.

"We did get frantic phone calls that evening from the child," she said. "We have some ongoing concerns."

A tape of Rifqa's FDLE interview is also to be sealed for at least 10 days, Dawson said.

Bartholomew said Rifqa has been so distraught over things that have been reported in the media.

Shayan Elahi, representing Rifqa's father Mohamed Bary, said "The hypocrisy is so clear."

Elahi said the gag order was only requested after attacks have been made against Rifqa's parents.

He said it will have a "chilling effect" on the first amendment rights of all these people.

Elahi told Dawson if he grants the gag request, the judge would be
saying, "It's ok for people to use the media to their benefit and after
that, the other party basically cannot have their story told."

In addition Thursday, Dawson said he will let the three young adult children of Blake and Beverly Lorenz visit with Rifqa.

Elahi protested. He said Mohamed Bary "has a say in what is going on here and who gets to see his child.

"That's my client's child," he said. "Let common sense prevail."

Elahi said the Lorenzes "hid" Rifqa for weeks.

The findings of a state investigation into Rifqa and the alleged
threats made against the runaway teen by her Muslim father have been
sealed by an Orange County Circuit judge.

The Orlando Sentinel tried to obtain a copy of the FDLE today, which is
slated to be presented in court this afternoon, and was told the agency
cannot release the documents because of the seal.

Rifqa's lawyer, John Stemberger, asked a judge to seal the report, and
the judge agreed Wednesday. Stemberger has not returned a call
requesting information on the matter.

Ohio child-welfare officials issued a report yesterday, saying they've
investigated the family and believe it is safe for Rifqa to return.
After at least a month in foster care there, they want to reunite her
with her family and place the teen in therapy.

Also in Columbus, Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Ron O'Brien
wrote a letter yesterday, saying law enforcement officials there are
capable of protecting children and will take action to protect Rifqa,
if necessary.

Gregg Thomas, an attorney representing the Orlando Sentinel, told the
judge he understands the court entered an order that sealed the FDLE
investigative report.

Elahi said of Thomas' statements:

"There is a need for information out there," Elahi said. "I think people want to know what's in it."

An FDLE representative just told the judge the agency does have a report.

Rifqa's parents are not at the hearing but are connected by telephone.

Dawson is supposed to decide if her father or anyone else in Ohio poses
a threat to her, but already in the hearing he is wondering if the case
could be decided through mediation.

The scene outside the courthouse turned combative long before the
hearing started. A representative of the Florida Security Council has
at least one person outside meeting with reporters.

At least one man with an opposing opinion interrupted him, causing a brief argument between the two.

Meanwhile, several other men said Rifqa's life is at stake in today's hearing.

There are more than half a dozen news crews already set up, but the
courtroom has yet to open. Dozens of people are waiting to get in,
including several from FDLE and DCF.

Rifqa went missing from her family's home near Columbus, Ohio, on July
19. She took a Greyhound bus to Orlando, where she sought shelter from
pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz. Rifqa met Beverly Lorenz through a
Facebook prayer group.

The Lorenzes have said Rifqa came to them in great fear that her Muslim
father would kill her and is frightened to return to Ohio.

Rifqa's father, Mohamed Bary, has said he never threatened Rifqa, loves
her, and will let her practice whatever religion she wants.

The pastors, who have served in the ministry in Central Florida for
more than 25 years, allowed Rifqa to live with them for more than two
weeks.

On Aug. 7, an Orlando police officer, responding to a request from Ohio
authorities, was dispatched to the Lorenz's home. He picked Rifqa up,
and she was eventually placed in DCF custody. The state agency placed
Rifqa in a foster home, where she's remained since.

On Aug. 21, an Orange County judge ordered the Florida Department of
Law Enforcement to investigate the alleged threats against Rifqa.

Rifqa's parents, each represented by a local attorney, will phone-in to today's hearing.

Fathima Rifqa Bary, the New Albany teenager who fled from her
home in Ohio nearly two months ago, still remains in a Central Florida
foster care home.

But her father, Mohamed Bary, wants her back home.

"It's very sad. She is our only daughter," Mohamed Bary said. "I love her. I
want her to come home. She can practice whatever (religion) she
believes in. We have no problem with that," he said.

Fathima Bary, a 17-year-old girl who attends New Albany High School, left the
Columbus area on July 19, and traveled to Orlando to stay with the
pastors of Global Revolution Church.

She had told police that her father had allegedly threatened to take her
life because she had converted from Islam to Christianity.

The case has been in the Florida court system since police found the teen in the home of Blake and Beverly Lorenz.

"She is in a safe and secure environment at this time," said Carrie
Hoeppner, communications director for the Florida Department of
Children and Families.

Florida's 9th Judicial Circuit Court held
an arraignment on Sept. 3, where Bary's parents, Mohamed and Aysha
Bary, denied the allegations that Mohamed Bary threatened his
daughter's life, Hoeppner said.

The couple spoke to the court via phone.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who was granted custody of
Fathima Bary by a judge on Aug. 10, presented all parties with a copy
of the summary of the department's on the case.

However, those reports have not been made public. The judge, Daniel P. Dawson, ordered
that they not be available until after 10 business days from the
arraignment date.

Also, Dawson asked that all parties involved enter into mediation for the next 30 days.

"The judge was really hopeful that some of the concerns could be resolved among the parties in the case," Hoeppner said.

In addition, the court also discussed who was allowed to visit Fathima Bary, with supervision.

"We did request that the Lorenz's not be allowed to visit with the child
any longer," she said. "We had received information through our
partnership with law enforcement, and that information led us to
believe that the visitation was not in the best interest for her right
now."

The three adult children of the Lorenz's still have visitation rights, she said.

Hoeppner said there have been a number of concerns with the Lorenz's visit, but
she would not elaborate, in respect to the court's order to keep
Florida Department of Law Enforcement's report sealed.

Dawson also put a gag order on all the attorneys involved in the case, and a
pretrial hearing date has been scheduled for Sept. 29.

Hoeppner said Fathima Bary is currently receiving counseling.

In her affidavit, Fathima Bary said her family moved from Sri Lanka to New
York in 2000, and then moved to the Columbus area in 2004.

She said her father researched mosques in the area, and had settled on the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin.

"My father was very intent on making sure that his children, and especially
me, were raised deeply in the faith of original Islam" which was taught
at the Noor Center," she said in the statement.

The teen said she became a Christian in 2005.

"I hid my Christian faith from my parents as best as I could and had to
sneak around to attend Christian campus meetings. I also hid my Bible
at home in various locations," she said.

She said that her father had confronted her on whether or not she had converted to Christianity.

"In a fit of anger that I had never seen before in my life, he picked up my
laptop, waived it over my head as if to strike me with it and said 'If
you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me! You are no
longer my daughter.' I continued to remain silent and then he said to
me even more angry than before, 'I will kill you! Tell me the truth,' "
she said in the affadavit.

Mohamed Bary said that he never threatened her, and said the Lorenz's have influenced his daughter.

"She had been influenced to say those things because a lot of fear has been put in her mind," he said.

He said he has known for a few years that his daughter was interested in
Christianity, and knew especially in the last year that she had
converted, adding that it's all right if she has converted.

Two or three months prior to her leaving, Mohamed Bary said his daughter
became more quiet and didn't hang out with her school friends as much,
causing he and his wife to worry.

Mohamed Bary described his relationship with his daughter as very good.

"She was a very good girl, very obedient, fun loving and very disciplined.
She did very well in school, and also in cheerleading. I would drop her
off and pick her up (from practices)," he said.

According to Mohamed Bary, Franklin County Children Services has determined the family is no harm or threat to Rifqa Bary.

"I really don't understand why they are keeping my child away from me. I just don't get it," Mohamed Bary said.

Kristen Perezluha, a public information officer for the Florida Department of
Law Enforcement, would not comment on the department's report.

Doris Calloway Moore, Franklin County Children Services Director of
Communications, also would not disclose the department's findings.

If the teen is able to come back to Columbus, the Bary family has
voluntarily agreed to work with Franklin County Children Services, and
have the teen live with a foster family for 30 days, in addition to the
family receiving counseling, Calloway Moore said.

After the 30 days, children services would then assess the situation and make a
determination as to what would happen next, Calloway Moore said.

"I really don't understand why they are keeping my child away from me. I just don't get it."

The Ohio teen who ran away from her Muslim home after converting to Christianity apparently lied to state investigators.However, one of the groups that have infused itself into her cause is accusing state agents of not thoroughly doing their jobs.Tom
Trento with the Florida Security Council calls a seven page report of
investigative findings from Florida Department of Law Enforcement
"complete nonsense" even though agents interviewed Rifqua Bary and then
sought out to confirm or deny the allegations she made.In the
report, investigators discuss Rifqa's claims that she was assaulted by
her father, threatened with death and was the victim of long-term child
abuse.Investigators found absolutely no credible reports of
threats and no "derogatory" information based on the allegations after
interviewing her siblings, people at her school and others involved in
her life.But those fighting for Rifqua to stay in Florida said
the report is "incomplete,” deficient and they accuse FDLE agents of
not grasping the seriousness of her situation.“The investigators
here are going to be very embarrassed when this comes to trial because
expert witnesses will be brought in to completely overwhelm these
investigators and their methods employed by these FDLE folks,” Trento
said.Rifqua was interviewed by investigators on Aug. 21. She told
them she hitchhiked from a neighbor’s house to the Greyhound bus
station in Columbus for her trip to Orlando.It turns out a man who baptized her in Ohio is the one who drove her to the bus station.Then, investigators learned her bus ticket was actually bought in Orlando under a fictitious name.So what's next in this case?Lawyers for Rifqua’s parents have filed a motion to dismiss the dependency hearing. It could be heard as early as next week.If it’s dismissed, this could clear the way for Rifqua to return to Ohio with her family.

A Muslim girl who gave her heart to Jesus and then ran away to
Christian evangelists in Orlando is not just any Christian. She is
driven to save souls and prays that God will make her a prophet.

That's according to writings she left behind when she fled.

"Lord is preparing me and He has me hidden . . . until the time is right," Fathima Rifqa Bary
wrote in a computer entry obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. "I am
called to the nations. Send me to the deepest darkest places into the
pagan land."

Rifqa, 17, lives with a foster family in the Orlando area. She
fled here, she insists, because her father threatened to kill her for
abandoning Islam.

There's no evidence of that, according to the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement and child welfare officials in Columbus, but her
claim -- and her wrenching, tearful YouTube
video -- have prompted a firestorm of response. Thousands of people
have weighed in, most insisting that if Florida officials send her back
to Ohio she'll face certain death.

After Rifqa disappeared on July 19, her family searched for clues
about why she left. They found a computer flash drive and were stunned
by what they read.

Contents of the flash drive were given by Mohamed Bary to the Council
on American-Islamic Relations of Columbus, who shared parts of it with
the Sentinel. Bary authorized publication.

The writings reveal a young woman who has embraced fundamentalist
Christianity, who has stood outside an abortion clinic, duct tape
across her mouth, alongside other protesters, and who has dreamed about
Armageddon.

She must convert her family to Christianity, she wrote, including her older brother, Rilvan, 18, who worships "demonic music."

She must approach strangers and talk about Jesus. She saved a list
of tips on how to do that: "Do NOT be sneaky," she wrote. "Sit down . .
. get to know them . . . (Ask) would you mind for 5 min if I share the
gospel with you."

She compared herself to the Old Testament heroine Esther and wrote out or saved religious pep talks.

"What does it take to be a prophet?" she wrote. "If I am a friend
of God I can be prophetic. . . . You have to want it. Everyday pray for
prophesy."

Also on the flash drive is 250 pages of Facebook preaching and blogging by a young Columbus evangelist, Brian Michael Williams, 23, a former Ohio State University sociology student and Rifqa's religious mentor, according to Mohamed Bary, her father.

Those are the writings that most trouble Rifqa's father, he said.

Williams prays with people by "laying my hands on the [computer]
monitor and prophesying," Williams wrote. He calls the founder of
Planned Parenthood a racist Nazi, does not believe in evolution, speaks
in tongues, and criticizes mainstream Christians as following a
"demonic doctrine" for being spiritually lethargic and failing to
evangelize.

Williams baptized Rifqa in a creek near her home in June, he said,
and helped her run away -- unwittingly, he insists -- by driving her to
the Greyhound bus station in downtown Columbus.

To Rifqa's father, Williams is a Christian extremist who turned Rifqa against her family and put lies in her head.

Williams said that's not true. Rifqa, he said, is the one who
convinced him that because her father was a Muslim, Mohamed Bary must
kill her to preserve the family's honor.

"I really appreciate Rifqa's courage, and she's been an
inspiration to me," Williams said in a phone interview this week from
Kansas City.

Rifqa's attorney, John Stemberger, and her guardian ad litem,
Krista Bartholomew, were prohibited from commenting on the writings
because of a gag order issued by Orange Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson.

In the past week, Rifqa's parents have launched a new strategy to
get their daughter returned to Ohio and placed in its foster care
system. There are now two juvenile court cases pending in Columbus.
Last week, her father filed one, asking a judge to declare his daughter
incorrigible for repeatedly being disobedient.

Someone else on Monday filed a separate petition naming Rifqa, something that could give a Franklin County
judge the authority to determine where and with whom she lives. The
Franklin County, Ohio, clerk of courts office would not identify the
petitioner.

A judge could decide the fate of religious runaway Rifqa Bary as early as Monday.

The attorneys for her parents will argue a motion to have the dependency case dismissed.

Rifqa Bary is the girl who ran away from her Muslim family in Ohio
because she feared retribution for converting to Christianity.

She's been staying with a foster family in Orlando.

Just this past week, an FDLE report was released saying agents found no evidence Rifqa was in any danger.

The hearing will be held in juvenile court Monday at 3 p.m.

The parents of an
Ohio teenager who ran away to Orlando because she thought her life was
in danger for converting from Islam to Christianity are trying to get
the case moved from Florida to Ohio.
The parents of 17-year-old Rifqa Bary filed a motion Monday for a
dependency hearing seeking jurisdiction of the case to be moved from
Orlando to Columbus, Ohio.
An Ohio judge has set a hearing for Oct. 27.
The parents' filing puts into question which state ultimately will have jurisdiction over the case.
The Florida judge currently supervising the case said he will consult with his Ohio counterpart to settle jurisdictional issues.

The legal battle over teen runaway Fathima Rifqa Bary will continue
Tuesday in an Ohio courtroom after an Orlando hearing Monday brought
more questions than resolutions.Orange County, Fla., Circuit
Judge Daniel Dawson did nothing to change the custody of the
17-year-old, who is living with a foster family near Orlando, and said
he planned to talk to an Ohio judge to find out whether there is a
legitimate custody action in that state.If so, Dawson would need to determine whether Florida's emergency jurisdiction should remain - and for how long.

Meanwhile, Rifqa's father
stepped up a strategy to bring his daughter back to Ohio. Mohamed Bary
filed a criminal complaint against the Orlando pastors who helped
shelter Rifqa for more than two weeks before the state intervened. Lawyer
Shayan Elahi told the Orange County court that Rifqa's parents, Mohamed
and Aysha Bary, filed a complaint about Blake and Beverly Lorenz with
law-enforcement officials. A letter sent to Orlando police by
Mohamed Bary claimed Rifqa was "indoctrinated and coerced" by
representatives of Global Revolution Church and "was hidden" by the
Lorenzes. Orlando police said they are not investigating.A
Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman confirmed the agency
received a complaint against the Lorenzes, but she could not comment
further.Rifqa made national headlines when she ran away from her
home near Columbus, Ohio. She took a bus to Central Florida and sought
shelter with the Lorenzes in July. She spent more than two weeks with
the family until Aug. 10, when she was placed into state foster care,
where she remains.The teen said she feared her Muslim family would harm or kill her because of her conversion to Christianity.Rifqa's
family has denied any wrongdoing, and investigators in Ohio and Florida
have not found evidence supporting Rifqa's claims.The pastors,
who have served in the ministry in Central Florida for more than 25
years, met Rifqa through a prayer group on the social-networking Web
site Facebook.A Florida statute makes it unlawful to shelter an
unmarried minor for more than 24 hours without the consent of a parent
or guardian, or without notifying a law-enforcement officer of the
child's name. A violation of that law is a misdemeanor.Mat Staver, the Lorenzes' lawyer and longtime friend, said there is "no solid basis for the complaint" filed against them.He
said the Lorenzes did what any person would do given the circumstances.
Staver said the Lorenzes took multiple steps to notify authorities.The
Lorenzes were questioned as part of FDLE's earlier inquiry into the
alleged threats made against Rifqa by her family, Staver said. They
have not been questioned since.The pastors were already
forbidden from visiting Rifqa in foster care. Dawson added their adult
children to the ban in light of any criminal inquiry.Rifqa used Monday's hearing to peruse a Bible. Other than stating her name, she did not speak.Her parents listened to the hearing by phone.In
recent weeks, the Barys launched a new strategy to get their daughter
back to their home near Columbus and placed in Ohio's foster-care
system. Mohamed Bary's filing, asking a judge to declare his daughter
incorrigible for repeatedly being disobedient, is one case there.Another
preliminary hearing is scheduled in juvenile court Tuesday morning in
Columbus, Ohio, to address the issue. Criminal attorney Kort Gatterdam,
who is representing Rifqa in Ohio, said he will address the complaint
and plans to file a document Tuesday morning that will impact the case.
He would not give details about the filing.Rifqa's guardian ad
litem, Krista Bartholomew, said in court Monday that she has "grave
concerns" that the Ohio case would be dismissed as soon as Rifqa is
sent back there.The Barys also filed a dependency petition
against themselves in juvenile court in Ohio, Elahi said. The next
hearing in that case is Oct. 27.Roger Weeden, the attorney for
Rifqa's mother, Aysha Bary, said the Ohio court has accepted
jurisdiction and argued that all of the witnesses in Rifqa's case, from
relatives to teachers, are there.Rifqa's Florida case is set for mediation Oct. 9. Another proceeding in juvenile court is Oct. 13.Also
Monday, Dawson kept sealed the FDLE's interview of Rifqa. The judge
said he wanted to read a transcript of the interview before deciding
whether to make it public.

A Florida judge said Monday that a teenage girl who ran away from her New Albany home over
religious beliefs won't immediately be returned to her parents.
The judge ruled that she will stay in Orlando and can have no contact with the Christian
pastor's family that she was staying with.
Rifqa Bary, 17, claimed that she was threatened by her father after converting from Islam to
Christianity, according to court documents unsealed last week.
She fled to Florida and was found living with Pastor Blake Lorenz and his family. Bary
apparently met Lorenz over the Internet.
After being located in Orlando, Fla., Bary said that she feared her father would kill her
because she changed religions.
Court documents said an investigation conducted by Florida authorities found no credible threats
of violence against Bary.
Bary's parents are waiting for judges in Florida and Ohio to determine who has jurisdiction over
the case. An Ohio judge has set a hearing for later this month.
Lorenz and his family are under criminal investigation for possibly
helping Bary run flee Ohio. A spokesman for the Bary family said custody laws in Ohio are clear.
"Parents have custody of their child," said spokesman Omar Tarazi. "If some third party
takes them, or helps them to go across state lines, there's a felony there."

The Department of Children and
Families said it is concerned after a recording of a conference call
with religious runaway Rifqa Bary surfaced on YouTube.