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Soldier4Christ
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« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2010, 09:57:05 AM » |
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Teen-turned-Christian protected from Islam
Report says court declares Rifqa 'dependent' of state
The parents of Rifqa Bary, a Muslim convert to Christianity who fled her home claiming her life was in danger, have agreed to allow their daughter to remain in foster care until she turns 18 this summer.
Bary's Muslim parents gave up their fight, according to Ohio court documents released today, avoiding a trial that could have put Islam's law barring "apostasy," by penalty of death, in the national spotlight.
When the teen turns 18 in August she will be free to live where she chooses.
As WND reported, fearing harm to Islam's image in the U.S., the Council on American-Islamic Relations intervened in the case, appointing a lawyer who tried to portray Bary as a victim of brainwashing while moving to bar any mention in court of the religion's mandate to kill "apostates," according to an Ohio pastor who himself is a former Muslim.
Jamal Jivanjee, director of the non-profit ministry Illuminate, told WND he met Bary before the current controversy over her conversion – which friends say took place four years ago – and is convinced the Sri Lanka native is a genuine Christian. He affirms Bary's claim that her life is threatened by her father, due to his religious beliefs and the Columbus, Ohio, mosque that pressured him to punish her in accord with Islamic law.
Jivanjee confirmed in an e-mail to supporters that today's agreement "protects her from being forced to return to her parent's home."
"Apparently, Rifqa's parents realized that they were not going to win the dependency case should it have [gone] to trial," said Jivanjee.
In exchange for dependency, Rifqa agreed to admit she violated rules by fleeing her home, he said.
He said the teen still needs the prayers of the Christian community for "personal protection" and to be allowed to contact people she chooses.
"There have been numerous death threats made against her life because she left Islam to become a follower of Jesus," he wrote.
Jivanjee says CAIR appointed a local lawyer, Omar Tarazi, to cast Bary as a victim of brainwashing by another Ohio pastor, Brian Williams, and the Florida pastors to whom she fled, Blake and Beverly Lorenz, while maneuvering to isolate and discourage her.
CAIR, the subject of a blockbuster expose by WND Books documenting its terror ties, was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest U.S. terror-finance case in history. The FBI responded by cutting off its once-close ties to CAIR. The Muslim group has sued the father and son who carried out an undercover investigation that obtained internal documents published in the book "Muslim Mafia".
Law enforcement officials conducted two investigations in which they concluded Rifqa would face no harm if she returned home. A foster court, nevertheless, place her in foster care until the case could be resolved. An Ohio judge ruled Dec. 22 her family could engage in a discussion with her about their religious beliefs, though not necessarily in person, and rescheduled a trial for Jan. 28 to determine her dependency.
Tarazi had asked the court to ban any witnesses from mentioning incidents between Rifqa and her parents that took place more than 24 hours before she ran away.
"CAIR's agenda is to paint a positive view of Islam and defend the image of Islam here in the West," Jivanjee told WND. "That's why I think they're interested in the case."
Author and Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer and blogger Pamela Geller, close observers of the case, assert it is inescapably about the religious beliefs of Bary's parents and the local mosque that pressured them to abide by Islam's deadly intolerance for conversion.
Rifqa Bary has reported her father, Mohamed Bary, threatened her life after learning of her conversion. She says she became a Christian four years ago. When her parents began preparing to move the family back to Sri Lanka, she sought refuge with a Florida pastor and his wife after connecting with them on the social networking site Facebook.com. The Barys reported their daughter missing to Columbus, Ohio, police July 19, then tracked her down in Orlando.
Before her case was moved from Florida to Ohio, court documents linked a mosque near the family's home to allegations of terrorism financing.
While in Orlando, Rifqa explained her plight in an interview with WFTV.
"If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150 generations in [my] family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first – imagine the honor in killing me."
She explained there is "great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's in the Quran."
Scholars in all the major streams of Islam have asserted the religion's holy book, the Quran, teaches that rejection of Islam must be punished by death.
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