Update: Rifqa Bary

A while back, I wrote about a seventeen year old girl by the name of Rifqa Bary who had secretly converted from Islam to Christianity. When here parents found out and the father threatened to kill her, she made the wise choice to leave home and get as far away as possible. Since then her case has been in a Florida state court waiting for the judge to decide if she should be returned to Ohio. Well, the judge has decided that she should be returned to Ohio. Apparently, government agencies found no credible evidence that she is in danger. Never mind that the Koran calls for apostates to be killed. Pay no attention to the numerous cases of honor killings such as Amina and Sarah Said who made the mistake of returning home after leaving in fear of their lives only to be shot by their Muslim father who is believed to have fled to Egypt; or the case of Tina Isa whose murder by her parents was disclosed by an FBI wiretap that recorded the parents planning the murder, the cover story and then the actual killing of the daughter. Source. It appears that none of this can be taken into consideration. After all, the parents say they would never harm their daughter and Rifqa didn't tape record the death threats. It seems that children have to provide their own dead bodies to be taken seriously when it comes to Muslim honor killings.

The judge did stay transfer of the girl back to Ohio until he has had a chance to review the Bary family's immigration papers. And it is being reported that the Bary family is in the US illegally and they have lost their appeals to stay in the country. Source. Allegedly, the father has claimed he came here to get treatment for Rifqa's bad eye, but surprisingly she has received any treatment and the father came into the US illegally through Mexico. I am not exactly sure how this will affect the courts ruling, but this may be the one bright side to the story, as Rifqa may be the one family member who can make a claim for political asylum. This is because she would face probable death and certain mistreatment if she were forced to return to her home county. Of course this assumes that she, as a dependant minor, is allowed to make the asylum claim and the Government gives her a fair hearing, which may be unlikely since it is taboo to treat Islam as anything other than a peaceful, tolerant, and loving religion.

Generally, as an attorney, I would say that Rifqa and her friends should abide by court rulings. In my experience, courts seldom return a seventeen year old runaway to the parents without her consent, if only because she is so close to the age of adulthood, which is 18 years. But in this case, I am far from certain that the courts will disregard political correctness and issue a ruling that will protect Rifqa. It may be best to run away again and find people who can hide her until she turns eighteen.

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