Rifqa Bary | News & Videos

The Ohio court overseeing Rifqa Bary’s case convened yesterday to hear an emergency motion by CAIR attorney Omar Tarazi attempting to circumvent a counselor’s finding that Rifqa should be allowed to talk with the Florida couple, Blake and Beverly Lorenz, who took her in last summer after her flight from an allegedly abusive home in Ohio. The counselor recommended that Rifqa be allowed unsupervised telephone contact with the Lorenzs.

Notwithstanding the hyperventilating by the amateur legal strategists over at Atlas Shrugs yesterday, this is yet another legal win for Rifqa and deals a stunning setback for CAIR attorney Omar Tarazi. The magistrate allowed Rifqa to have supervised conversations with the Lorenzs until Judge Gill can rule on the counselor’s recommendation on Feb. 16th. The magistrate also expressed skepticism at Tarazi’s attempt to back out of the deal made last month that would allow Rifqa to remain in state custody until she turns 18. The magistrate made it clear during the hearing yesterday that it is highly unlikely that Judge Gill is going to reverse her previous order securing Rifqa’s dependency deal. Is it possible that the judge is going to undo everything she put into place just two weeks ago to try to salvage Tarazi’s crumbling media narrative? As with any case before a judge, it is possible, but doesn’t seem likely. Apart from the hearings to address the recent flurry of bizarre motions by Tarazi, who is under considerable attack from his CAIR overlords for effectively losing this case, the next regularly scheduled hearing in Rifqa’s case is August 10th – Rifqa’s 18th birthday.

It is indeed ironic and disappointing to see some of Rifqa’s most enthusiastic supporters now parroting CAIR, demanding the removal of Rifqa’s attorneys and wanting to reopen her case to flog their respective cause. It is unclear how any of this helps Rifqa, and the fact that these critics are making the exact same claims as CAIR should give them considerable pause. Given their current state of hysteria, however, that doesn’t seem likely. Understand that Rifqa’s attorneys have not only secured her dependency, put her on the fast track to resolve her immigration status, and begun dismantling the “cone of silence” imposed on Rifqa by the Ohio Dept. of Children and Family Services. They are continuing to work to ensure that she remains safe in her foster care placement. This, according to these critics, is an unmitigated disaster that threatens Rifqa’s very existence. And their source for their “sky is falling” analysis? Meredith “Hijab” Heagney of the Columbus Dispatch, who has been one of the main media cheerleaders for Rifqa’s return to the extremists in the Columbus Muslim community. Wonderful.

It also bears mentioning that it was Rifqa’s Florida attorney, John Stemberger, who seems to be the focus of the wrath of these online critics, who back at the beginning of her case submitted to the court an extensive 35-page legal brief on the extremism and terrorist ties of the mosque attended by Rifqa’s parents, the Noor Islamic Cultural Center. Additionally, had the case moved forward to trial, Rifqa’s Ohio attorney Kort Gatterdam had submitted an extensive witness list of experts on apostasy in Islamic law and Islamic honor killings (including, by her own testimony, Phyllis Chesler, an expert on Islamic honor killings). This, according to these critics, is proof that Rifqa’s attorneys failed to take into consideration the issue of apostate and honor killings in Islam, and that Rifqa’s life is in immediate danger from her zombie attorneys who want to eat her brains. Um, OK??

In an effort to rebut much of the false information being circulated by these critics, Stemberger released a statement yesterday, “Correcting the Top Ten False Rumors and Misinformation about Rifqa’s Attorneys and Her Legal Case”:

CORRECTING THE TOP TEN FALSE RUMORS AND MISINFORMATION ABOUT RIFQA’S ATTORNEYS AND HER LEGAL CASE

By John Stemberger
February 1, 2010

It is highly unfortunate, but there are a handful of people who claim to be leading Rifqa advocates are spreading inaccurate, highly sensational and outright false information about matters surrounding Rifqa Bary, her attorneys and Rifqa’s legal case. It is necessary to respond to these statements because the amount of ignorance, misinformation, and slander being spread is causing disunity and confusion among those people who really do truly love and support Rifqa and are looking for accurate information.

1) RIFQA’S DOES NOT NEED NEW LAWYERS AND SHE HAS SOME OF THE FINEST LAWYERS IN THE STATE OF OHIO REPRESENTING HER.

Representing Rifqa are two legal experts, one in the area of dependency (which most lawyers have never even heard of) and one in criminal law. Kort Gatterdam is a board certified criminal defense lawyer who is well respected in the greater Columbus, Ohio Bar, partner in a major Ohio law firm and he has tried hundreds of cases before juries and judges. Angie Lloyd is a clinical law professor at Ohio State University with a long history as a child advocate and is one the country’s leading experts in the area of dependency and child immigration. The legal strategy and plan agreed to by all lawyers involved in both Florida and Ohio from the beginning has been to get Rifqa declared a “Dependent” by the state and therefore in a situation where she would never have to be forced to return to her parents or her homeland Sri Lanka unless she wanted to. The dependency status also allows her to apply for a status where she would never be forced back to Sri Lanka where she would surely be killed in time by the Muslim extremists in that country. In Ohio, a minor does not have a right to an independent lawyer at all and the state usually simply appoints a Guardian Ad Litem to represent a minor child. However, through an amazing set of providential circumstances, Rifqa was able to secure two of the finest and most well suited lawyers in Ohio to represent her and not be forced to accept a court appointed lawyer who would have been young, brand new, inexperienced and pretty laid back.

2) IF A TRIAL WERE TO TAKE PLACE, RADICAL ISLAM’S INVOLVEMENT IN RIFQA’S STORY CAN ONLY BE ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE IF THE COURT ALLOWS IT. PERIOD!

A lawyer cannot introduce anything they want into evidence unless it is within the scope of the complaint and the judge allows it. If the judge does not want it in, it does not come into evidence. And that is what the court ruled in Ohio and no amount of shouting, disagreeing or acting rebellious in court like the Muslim lawyers have in this case is going to change the judge’s ruling. Further, effective Legal Advocacy is not about being “aggressive” and shouting loudly in court. There is a common myth that a good and “tough” lawyer will be aggressive and somehow “beat up” the other lawyers in courtroom. This is the thinking of the novice who watches too many lawyer shows on TV and have no idea how a court room or the rules of evidence actually work. A lawyer can be completely silent and win a case handily while another argues loudly and looses the case outright. That’s what has happened in this case. We should be thankful.

3) RIFQA DOES NOT NEED TO GO THROUGH AN ASYLUM PROCESS.

Dependency is a highly specialized area of the law that most persons have never heard of and that even most lawyers have no idea about. No lawyer who understands dependency law agrees that seeking political asylum in the US makes any sense. Those that have advocated for asylum are either not lawyers and have no idea what the law says, or are simply ignorant about the dependency process. It is stunning to hear the arm chair commentators talk about what they think should happen legally when they are completely ignorant about what the law says or how courts, evidence or trials work. Rifqa’s immigration status can be resolved as a dependent of the State of Ohio without any asylum claims.

4) JOHN STEMBERGER IS NOT WRITING A BOOK ON RIFQA’S STORY.

One well-known blogger who attempts to give updates on Rifqa’s situation and cleverly mixes facts with an assortment of fantasy and fiction, has recently written that she has inside information from “confidential sources” that I have inked a book deal on Rifqa’s story. This is totally false and I have no interest nor any intention on writing any book on Rifqa or on her case.

5) RIFQA DOES IN FACT NEED MORE FUNDS SENT TO HER TRUST ACCOUNT.

Nationally recognized Evangelist Lou Engel sent out an e-mail requesting funds for Rifqa’s Trust Fund to help pay for her legal defense as her attorneys costs are enormous. Days after this e-mail was sent out, an individual who actively attempts to give out updates and prayer requests on Rifqa’s status, sent out a public email and Facebook message stating that did not Rifqa did not need money for any purpose and that she only needed “prayer”. This was both a foolish and irresponsible statement and was in direct opposition to want Rifqa HERSELF wants! Rifqa wants and needs continued funding for both the costs associated with defending her and money to live on when she is ultimately released. Donations are still needed and can be made online or mailed to 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.”

6) THE RECENT MOTION FILED BY RIFQA’S PARENTS LAWYERS TO REVERSE THE DEPENDENCY AGREEMENT IS TOTALLY FRIVOLOUS AND IS NOT A MAJOR THREAT.

The motion filed last week by the Bary parents lawyer and “Islamic Scholar” Omar Tarazi to undo the dependency agreement previously made in Court is a complete sham and is likely not to have any effect at all on the court. The ridiculous motion also seeks to fire all of Rifqa’s lawyers and her Guardian ad Litem. The court is likely to dismiss it at the hearing without even serious consideration and there is a 95% chance this dismissal will occur. In the highly unlikely event the court grants the parents motion there is a chance a trial could take place but an even greater chance a settlement agreement would take place again because the Bary parents lawyer appears to be completely inexperienced and inept, and has never tried a case.

7) IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO TAKE LEGAL ACTIONS THAT WILL ENSURE RIFQA’S SAFETY THAN IT IS TO TAKE ACTIONS WHICH EXPOSE RADICAL ISLAM.

There are many people who want to see Rifqa undergo the risk involved with a full blown trial with the sole motive to expose radical Islam rather than to secure agreements which would guarantee that Rifqa will be safe. I am totally against radical Islam and want to see them exposed and want the power of Rifqa’s story to be heard. But not at the expense of risking Rifqa’s safety. In fact I was the one who submitted a 35 page brief on the Noor mosque to the Florida court and held a press conference to promote it and raised the concerns about the extremist elements in the Central Ohio Muslim community – information that many of these bloggers have subsequently used to make their case. I submitted it because I believed it was directly relevant for the Florida court to understand what has and continues to happen in Ohio. Had the case gone to trial in Florida, I would have worked to introduce these concerns and expert witnesses, including the direct issue of apostate killings, but would have been entirely reliant on the judge whether they would be admitted or not.

8) IN ANY LEGAL CASE, A SETTLEMENT WITH THE SAME RESULT IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN BEARING THE RISK OF A TRIAL WHERE THE ULTIMATE RESULT IS NOT IN YOUR HANDS BUT THE HANDS OF A JUDGE.

An agreement properly recognized by the Court and which gives you the same result you would seek at a trial, is always a better option than a full blown trial. In a trial, the judge (no jury trial in this type case) would make the final decision. In a settlement agreement the parties have control over the terms. If for whatever reason the judge ruled against Rifqa at trial, or the delay caused Rifqa to age out of the Ohio foster care system at age 18 without being declared a dependent, she could be immediately sent back to Sri Lanka. This is a risk that her legal counsel does not appear willing to take, but one which some other “friends” of Rifqa are foolishly advocating for because they do not understand the process or the potential risks to Rifqa.

9) THE BIBLE SAYS THAT “FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD” AND RIFQA MAY END UP “DEAD” WITHOUT THE LEGAL “WORK” OF HER ATTORNEYS.

Prayer for Rifqa is definitely needed — no question about it. We all need to be crying out to God for Rifqa’s safety and for His mercy and wisdom. But the Bible teaches that faith (i.e. prayer alone) without works is dead. And no person in America has the ability to do any direct work or take action to save or rescue Rifqa except her two Ohio lawyers and the judge. NO ONE, no matter how inflated their self-image or belief that their amateur legal skills supercedes that of Rifqa’s highly-competent attorneys. Attorneys are an easy target but you will never appreciate them unless and until you need one to steer you in a complex case like this. Do not underestimate the importance of Rifqa’s legal team or over spiritualize the matter thinking that prayer alone will save her. Rifqa needs both faith and works — otherwise her will remain in danger. And further “prayer” does not involve making public and asinine statements on matters you know absolutely nothing about.

10) THANK RIFQA’S LAWYERS– DON’T CRITICISM THEM.

When Rifqa turns 18 and can eventually feel safe in this country it will not be because of the bloggers who have mouthed off and the criticism of self-appointed Rifqa advocates that have had no actual involvement in Rifqa’s legal case. It will be primarily because of the sovereign grace and mercy of God AND the outstanding and continued work of Rifqa’s legal team.

I cannot judge the motive of those who are spreading bad information and have misguided opinions about Rifqa’s lawyers and her case. They may be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. I cannot fault a non lawyer for not understanding the law, legal procedure and the rules of evidence. But I say that the non lawyer arm chair critics need to humble themselves and stop the arrogant and ignorant grandstanding. They need to stand down and let the professionals do their job.

Please help Rifqa by forwarding this statement widely to her supporters.

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Mohamed Bary after today’s hearing.

A magistrate ruled this afternoon that Fathima Rifqa Bary will be permitted to have supervised telephone contact with the Florida couple who sheltered the runaway last summer.

In the latest development in a case that has wound its way through the legal system for the past six months, Mohamed and Aysha Bary filed a motion in Franklin County Juvenile Court that contact should be prohibited between Rifqa, 17, and Blake and Beverly Lorenz.

In December, lawyers for both Rifqa and her parents had agreed that no contact would be allowed until the teen’s counselor said it was in her best interest.

In a letter read today in court, the counselor said that unsupervised telephone contact would be OK.

But Magistrate Lorenzo Sanchez said that phone calls should be supervised until Judge Elizabeth Gill could rule in the next hearing on Feb. 16.

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Rifqa Bary’s dependency case was settled today in an Ohio juvenile court by Rifqa and her parents, and she will remain in state custody until her 18th birthday. In return for her parents dropping their opposition to dependency, Rifqa agreed to plead to the “unruly” charge, which will not count as a criminal charge and jeopardize her upcoming immigration claim.

What prompted this remarkable turn-around? It was clear to CAIR that they were going to lose in trial. CAIR was trying to force Rifqa to make some kind of admission that her statements about the terror-tied Noor Islamic Cultural Center her parents attended weren’t true, but when Rifqa’s attorneys said no and that they intended to take it to trial where all of Noor and CAIR’s secrets would be revealed, CAIR capitulated.

All is not over yet, however.

First, the court recently revealed her foster home location to the CAIR attorney. Rifqa’s life is in grave danger. Her attorneys are working feverishly to have the state move her to a new foster care placement and taking immediate measures to ensure her safety.

Secondly, CAIR’s new strategy is to target the Ohio pastor, Brian Williams, who assisted in her Muslim apostate underground railroad escape. They are pressuring the Franklin County prosecutor, Ron O’Brien, to have him indicted for kidnapping and other charges related to Rifqa’s escape. We will have additional information on his case in coming days.

Thirdly, Rifqa is currently facing severe restrictions on her communications. Her computer and phone have been confiscated, and she is not allowed to visit with any of her friends. There is not another child in state custody in Ohio that has had similar restrictions imposed. Rifqa’s attorneys are working to have those shariah-compliant restrictions removed.

This turn of events is important because dependency was exactly the legal goal Rifqa’s supporters had been pushing for in both Florida and then Ohio. We’ve achieved that goal. The legal case is over, but the affair is not at an end. There is more fighting left to do. We will keep you informed.

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A deal was cut today in the trial of Rifqa Bary. In exchange for pleading guilty to the charge of being “unruly”, Rifqa will not have to return home.

Here’s the hijabed Heagney reporting:

The long legal dispute over runaway teen convert Fathima Rifqa Bary apparently ended in Franklin County Juvenile Court late this afternoon when the girl and her parents agreed that she’ll stay in the custody of Children Services and the family will try to resolve their issues with counseling.

That leaves two options for Rifqa, who is in foster care: She could eventually reconcile with her parents and go home or stay in foster care until her 18th birthday on Aug. 10.

Rifqa admitted she was unruly when she fled her parents’ home last July to live with a Christian pastor and his family in Florida. She said at the time that her father, Mohamed, had threatened to kill her for abandoning the family’s Muslim faith, although authorities say they never found credible evidence that that was true.

Mohamed and Aysha Bary and their daughter all agreed today not to continue with the Juvenile Court dependency case. The next hearing, besides a minor hearing regarding a gag order on Monday, is set for her birthday.

Today’s decision ends months of legal action in Florida and Ohio.

In a statement read by Rifqa’s attorneys, both she and her parents said they loved each other and believe counseling is the best route.

UPDATE: John Jay’s analysis:

there isn’t much to go on, and i am not a great big fan of merideth heagney’s, but …. .–

–it appears she’ll stay in the custody of franklin country child services until her 18th birthday, and
–the child and parents alike have agreed to some kind of counseling.

i know. duh. that’s what the article says.

but, until such time as the orders of court are released to the public, or such time as your operatives can obtain copies of the orders of court, it is impossible to say much more w/ absolute certainty.

but, i would infer this to have happened.–

i don’t think the case to have been dismissed by order of court. were that to have happened, the court would loose jurisdiction over the parties, and jurisdiction to control their behavior. several things would obtain from that.– one, any agreement of the parties to engage in counseling could not be enforced by the court, ever. two, if the court were to have dismissed the case, i am not aware of any circumstance that confer upon franklin country child services the authority/jurisdiction/power to exert control over rifqa, or that confer upon them any ability/authority/power to provide for her care, including provision of her shelter care and custodial arrangements. and, finally, if the matter were dismissed, the court could not schedule or compel attendance by the parties at hearings, such as the matter set on the gag order.

it would appear that the parties contemplate all of these matters continuing. there has to be continuing jurisdiction of the court for these things to happen, to continue happening.

so, my best guess is that what has happened, is that the parties have entered into an agreed order of some kind striking the trial date on the merits, and agreeing to these measures interim to her birth day, at which point she turns 18. the terms of that order to include:
–her continued custodial arrangement with and supervision by the franklin county children’s services;
–striking of the trial date on the merits of the dependency claim/case;
–continued supervision by the court, probably with periodic hearings to see if any substantial compliance issues are arising, in terms of her custodial arrangements, and in terms with all the parties compliance with counseling.

i would also assume that the order provides further as to:
–naming a counselar or organization to provide counseling, subject to the agreement of all parties to that end;
–providing for the supervision of the parties during the occurence of such counseling sessions (i sure hope that this is covered), and,
–i would expect that some sort of minimal and court supervised visitation is contemplated to take place during this process, at some time.

i say this because it seems very unlikely to me that during this whole period rifqa and family will not be placed together in some fashion during the counseling sessions. such sessions may be private, in hte sense of not joint, to set and establish parameters on this or that point, and i would imagine this sort of thing has either taken place or will take place under the aegis of the court, … , but, eventually, it seems to me that such sessions will be joint.

and, depending on rifqa’s comfort levels, may or may not take place in conjunction with limited visitation.

and, as heagney said, it may or may not result in her going home.

one final matter. i see no mention of the parties’ immigration status. as i am given to understand the matters that i have read, in order for rifqa to take advantage of the immigration laws, she has to make application for the special programs i am aware of 1.)as a juvenile who is dependent, and 2.)with an adjudication determining her as dependent stuffed into her hot little fist.

i don’t know if this is covered in an order of continuance/temporary order of court, pending the final outcome. i don’t think it would be very good to see her spit out of this whole process as an “adult illegal alien,” subject to deportation. nor do i have any idea of the immigration status of the parents, except that they are illegal. i don’t know what in the hell you have to do to get deported out of this country anymore, … , except for maybe raping babies in church during the sermon, … , but if the bary’s aren’t in the hot seat for two cases of perjury before federal courts, i don’t know what gets yo there.

to sum up.

nobody will know for sure until copies of orders of court are obtained. until then, everything is speculation, some of it to be more learned than other of it, for sure.

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The parents of Fathima Rifqa Bary — the Muslim teenager who gave her life to Jesus and then fled to Orlando — have given up their fight to get back their daughter.

In a court in Columbus, Ohio, they agreed Tuesday to let Rifqa, 17, live in an Ohio foster home until she reaches 18 years old in August. After that, she’ll be an adult and will be free to do whatever she wants.

That agreement ended an ugly, often-public six-month ordeal for the girl and her parents.

It began in July, when she left their home in suburban Columbus, boarded a bus to Orlando then moved in with the family of evangelical pastors, Blake and Beverly Lorenz, who kept her whereabouts a secret from authorities.

Rifqa insisted that her father or radical Muslims in Columbus would kill her for converting to Christianity.

Florida and Ohio authorities investigated those claims but concluded they were unfounded.

Once Florida child-welfare authorities found out Rifqa was a runaway, they took her away from the Lorenzes in August and placed her with Orlando-area foster families.

Her parents insisted that she be returned. However, Rifqa balked, and Christians rallied to her side, conducting demonstrations and flooding the office of Gov. Charlie Crist with e-mail.

After several hearings at the Orange County juvenile courthouse, Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson in October ordered Rifqa returned to Ohio. She was placed in foster care there while the legal fight continued.

It ended Tuesday, according to Orlando attorneys familiar with the case.

A lawyer for the girl in Columbus read the settlement in court. “Rifqa and her parents love and respect each other and believe that further counseling for all parties is the healthy and best means of resolving the issues.”

Rifqa, in a related juvenile-delinquency case, also admitted Tuesday to being unruly.

The girl’s father, Mohamed Bary, declined to comment after the hearing. For months, he had said he just wanted his daughter back.

His former Orlando attorney, Shayan Elahi, said both sides agreed counseling was the best way for the family to resolve its differences.

Attorney John Stemberger, who represented the girl when she was in Orange County, called the settlement a victory for her. “Anytime you get a settlement and get what you want, it’s always better than having a trial. In terms of what’s in Rifqa’s best interest, this is in Rifqa’s best interest.”

Rene Stutzman can be reached at rstutzman@orlandosentinel.com

or 407-650-6394.

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And so, despite the all the naysayers and second-guessers, the lawyers in the Rifqa Bary case have negotiated a reasonable and potentially life-saving settlement which will allow Rifqa to remain in state custody until she becomes 18 (which will happen in August), at which time she herself will decide whether or not she wishes to be reunited with her family.

Rifqa Bary with her lawyers

According to the Columbus-Dispatch, Rifqa has admitted that she’d been “unruly” when she’d fled her home, and the “family will try to resolve their issues with counseling.” In a statement read by Rifqa’s attorneys, ‘both she and her parents said they loved each other and believe counseling is the best route.”

Ahem. The family’s honor has now been slightly salvaged by Rifqa’s open admission (clearly, an admission that had been required) that she’d been…”unruly.”

Is it “unruly” to choose one’s own God, or to try and save one’s own life? I’m just asking. In any event, in grand American tradition, “counseling” is seen as an all-purpose, face-saving panacea, a way of avoiding a more superficial or harsher rule of law—a way of dealing with problems that are far beyond (or beneath) a judge’s purview. Thus, “The case plan for Rifqa and her parents says they should talk about their respective religions and visit and communicate regularly.”

Had there been no settlement, I would have testified as an expert witness in this case. Luckily, thanks to the good lawyering involved, my testimony was not required.

And so, the Bary family (the teenager and her parents) will now enter counseling—always a dicey proposition in my opinion; girls and women are especially vulnerable to false promises of happy endings and true love. Many grown, battered women, report how well their sociopathic batterers bond with their counselors, and how their own anxieties and justified paranoia is minimized, scorned. Ultimately, these women may not only be diagnosed as “crazy,” they may also lose their children, their homes, even their lives—right under their counselor’s nose.

One can only hope that the counselor in the Bary case will know a great deal about the nature of honor killings and the fate of apostates in Islam.

For example, in the tragic case of Toronto’s Aqsa Parvez, the counselors at the shelter for battered women to which she fled did not understand the dynamics involved in an honor killing family and, when Aqsa’s mother called to say she missed her, they simply allowed Aqsa to go; Aqsa went home and was promptly killed by her father and brother. Aqsa’s crime? She did not want to wear hijab.

Speaking of honor killings and what counselors do and don’t understand: I am about to publish a new study about honor killings (due out in the next issue of Middle East Quarterly) in which I studied 230 honor killing victims on five continents. Therefore, I am not at all surprised by the “surprising” news coming out of Finland concerning a potentially “new” kind of victim.

Native Finnish women who marry “immigrant” men (the article simply will not use the word “Muslim”) have begun to flee for their lives to avoid being honor-killed—but not only by their husbands, but by their husbands’ family, even by his entire clan. One Finnish woman who married into an “immigrant” family says:

“They’ve threatened to kidnap my children, and my husband has repeatedly threatened to kill me. He says nobody can stop them, that horrible things happen, and he doesn’t even have to do them himself, that revenge will come from the clan…. The Multicultural Women’s Association Monika, which runs a safe house for immigrant women and their children, says that more and more Finnish women are turning to them when Finnish authorities fail to understand the threat of honour violence.” According to Nasima Razmyar, Monika’s Project Manager:

“You can have 200 people involved in honour-related violence, that is, the entire extended family. And not just the family in Finland, but relatives abroad and back in the home country. In general, our laws need to understand much better this type of group threat…One problem is that Finnish authorities in social services and on the police force treat honour violence just like any other case of domestic violence. They don’t take into account the fact that instead of a dispute between two individuals, honour violence pits a single woman against the wrath of a large group of people.”

One hopes and prays that the counselor assigned to the Bary family understands the nature of honor killings. They can certainly read my first study, which appeared in Middle East Quarterly. And, I will gladly send him or her my new study as soon as it is published.

P.S. Tundra Tabloids reports that Finnish state news had pulled the article about honor-related violence in Finland but restored it recently in a more sanitized form. Here’s what was deleted from the original article:

“Among immigrants honor violence has occurred in Finland for many years.” “She said that her marriage was hell, but no one believed her.” “The woman is the man’s property and thus can assault the woman however he pleases, if the woman refuses to obey the rules.”

“Honor violence has been increasing in recent years in Finland, when unmarried young women immigrants from a foreign culture struggle under the pressure. They may be forced to marry and be prohibited from socializing with Finns.”

“We’re currently unable to secure and protect the lives of people in the way that the authorities should do, Hukkanen says.”

Once again, I wish to acknowledge Esther’s fine work at IslaminEurope.blogspot.com

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Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Pamela Geller, founder, editor and publisher of the popular and award-winning weblog AtlasShrugs.com. She has won acclaim for her interviews with internationally renowned figures, including John Bolton, Geert Wilders, Bat Ye’or, Natan Sharansky, and many others, and has broken numerous important stories — notably the questionable sources of some of the financing of the Obama campaign.. Her op-eds have been published in The Washington Times, The American Thinker, Israel National News, Frontpage Magazine, World Net Daily, and New Media Journal, among other publications. She is the co-author (with Robert Spencer) of the soon to be released, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America (forward by Ambassador John Bolton).

FP: Pamela Geller, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

I would like to talk to you today about Facebook’s Fatwa’s on Rifqa.

What exactly is going on?

Geller: Thank you Jamie.

Facebook is full of death threats and other vicious material about Rifqa Bary, the teenage convert from Islam to Christianity who is in a fight for her life in juvenile court on Franklin County, Ohio. She left Islam and converted to Christianity, and she has been persecuted for it ever since.

Rifqa’s life is now on the line. Back in September I reported at my website AtlasShrugs.com on the first Rifqa Bary Facebook Fatwa: a Facebook group that said openly, “we need to kill her,” and was full of Muslim members. Now add this to the list of fatwas and death threats against Rifqa Bary: a Facebook group, again with numerous Muslim members, proclaiming, “Don’t save Rifqa Bary, let them kill her.” Although I have called attention to that group, it is still on Facebook. It has 64 members, all of them apparently Muslims. Not a Moishe in the mix.

Imagine, these are just the ones we catch. Only G-d knows how many hit squads are out for this young woman.

Another Facebook group screams, “F*** RIFQA BARY !!! SHAME FOR ISLAM !!!!” It has 57 members – once again, all Muslims. This one openly admits what CAIR and other front groups in America lie about: “In Islam, yes, apostasy is the death penalty.”

And yet another Rifqa-hating Facebook group asks if she is the Dajjal, an evil figure from Islamic eschatology. Robert Spencer says: “The Dajjal will at the end of days lead people astray. Muhammad said: ‘The Dajjal is one-eyed and will bring with him what will resemble Hell and Paradise, and what he will call Paradise will be actually Hell; so I warn you (against him) as Noah warned his nation against him.’” The Facebook group says: “Scriptures reveal Dajjal will have one eye. Rifqa Bary has one eye. You be the judge.” It also quotes a dhimmi Christian, Rev. Tim Ahrens, praising the extremist Noor mosque that Rifqa’s parents attend and saying, “I have only ever found graciousness and kindness in my dealings with Muslims.”

They are screaming it on social networks, but in the case of Rifqa Bary, justice is not blind, it is deaf and dumb. Is Judge Elizabeth Gill and Rifqa’s crack legal defense team going to continue to ignore the death penalty for apostasy under Sharia law for those who leave Islam? Are the CAIR militants going to act like thugs, and intimidate and pervert the American justice system to enforce Islamic law?

FP: What are other developments since the Rifqa Bary case returned to Ohio?

Geller: There have been many, especially in recent weeks. Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas front CAIR has found out where Rifqa is living. Omar Tarazi knows the address of Rifqa Bary’s foster home. How? What Islamist enemy leaked her location to CAIR? She must be moved at once. Who put Rifqa’s life at risk? I would demand a change of venue. The courtroom has been infiltrated, her best interests subverted.

Rifqa’s foster parents have her on lockdown. Rifqa’s limited phone and computer were completely cut off after the hearing of the 22nd. Complete crackdown. All communication to Rifqa was cut off. It was decided that a counselor would determine if she could have contact with friends. The counselor said she could, but nothing has happened. She is literally being treated like a prisoner.

FP: Sounds like Sharia Law on America soil.

Geller: That is what is happening Jamie. This is the punishment for female apostasy. House arrest until the apostate recants. This isolation is a form of psychological torture. I thought Obama said no torture for jihadists. So why is a girl in America, guilty only of freedom of religion, allowed to be psychologically tortured? This is mental abuse, and the fact that the parents are behind it with a terror organization as their hatchet man speaks volumes as to what would happen to Rifqa if they ever dared to send her home.

Apparently Rifqa met with and was begging the counselor assigned to her for some contact, any contact, with the people she loves. She told the counselor she was completely isolated. Alone and sad. The counselor agreed and said OK. But nothing has been done. Rifqa’s John Stemberger-appointed lawyers have agreed to this house arrest. She is surrounded on all sides.

Her legal team, still led by her former Florida attorney John Stemberger, is fiercely raising money — for what? I thought his work was pro bono. And he bungled the case so badly in Florida that I cannot imagine why he is still driving the “strategy”.

FP: Why has Rifqa’s legal team agreed to or imposed this crackdown in concert with the foster family?

Geller: I don’t know. Perhaps because those who loved Rifqa would advise her to get new legal help that specialized in apostasy cases. But no one can get to her. A new lawyer could ask for a continuance to prepare for the brutal trial against the Islamic machine. She needs a continuance.

She has no one now. No one. It has never been this bad for her. And her legal team has not been preparing for trial. They seem to think they can still make a deal with CAIR (Muslim Brotherhood). The Barys will never make a deal. This is jihad. A deal is never going to happen. Rifqa’s lawyers have barely begun taking depositions for Rifqa. They haven’t interviewed any of Rifqa’s witnesses in the trial to prove dependency. And Rifqa’s parents are fighting dependency with every dishonest crooked tool in the Islamist toolbox (taqiya, lies, deception). But the Stemberger-led legal team is still in the earliest stages of preparations.

FP: What is it exactly that Rifqa’s parents are up to?

Geller: Rifqa’s parents are fighting dependency by saying there was no conflict in the home. They are saying there is no conflict for apostasy in Islam. Every teaching from the Quran (Allah’s word) says it is the most egregious crime, punishable by death. The devout Barys said “she could practice her Christianity in the home”. Nothing could be farther removed from objective reality. She lived in fear and in secret for years. The beatings, the death threats can all be substantiated by her friends. The nature of the conflict is Islam, yet Rifqa’s lawyers will not present any religious evidence. Ex-Muslims such as Wafa Sultan, Nonie Darwish, and the world’s leading scholar on Islam, Ibn Warraq, would testify. None are being called.

The parents and their CAIR-appointed attorney Omar Tarazi are determining who can speak to Rifqa. They are the only ones who can determine who is on the non-existent visitors list.  And now, still, there is no visitors list. The two closest friends of Rifqa are no longer able to contact her.

In the courtroom on December 22nd, the magistrate told the attorneys she doesn’t want any surprises before they go into any of the hearings, so they meet in chambers first. She wants to know everything that is going to be filed. Every motion, any move…and no Islam. You can not introduce Islam. And yet Islam has been introduced already. Just look at the Facebook threats.

I have said from the very first that Rifqa Bary is the highest value target in America. Apostasy is the most egregious crime against Islam. Her crime is not just against the family. It is against Islam.

I know Ohio law enforcement and Florida law enforcement found no threat to Rifqa, but perhaps they can put down the kool aid for five minutes and do their jobs.

With sites on Facebook threatening Rifqa with death, everyone should stop the PC Religion-Of-Peace nonsense and get serious. Is law enforcement going to stop playing games and protect this young girl or what? Salman Rushdie did far less.

FP: What can the average citizen do to help Rifqa? And who can we contact on Facebook to ask why it allows jihad and death threats on its site?

Geller: Jamie, the average citizen can write to Ohio authorities, including the governor, to protest how they are allowing Rifqa to be railroaded.

Franklin County children services can be reached here.

Eric Fenner’s fax number is 614-275-2755 and his e-mail address is edfenner@fccs.co.franklin.oh.us

The Ohio governor’s office can be reached here.

Also, Governor Strickland is up for re-election. Here is John Kasich’s contact information.

Be vigilant. And pray for her.

As for Facebook, they seem deliberately to make it difficult to contact them. There are contact forms within Facebook itself for members, but it is not easy to know which is the right one that will get to the right person. Readers can and should try abuse@facebook.com, but there is no assurance that anyone with any authority in Facebook will see the message.

FP: Pamela Geller, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

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ORLANDO — Religious runaway Rifqa Bary will remain in Ohio foster care.

According to the Ohio court documents released late Tuesday evening, Bary’s parents gave up their fight to get their daughter back, and opted to allow her to remain in Ohio foster care until she turns 18 in August.

Once she turns 18, Bary will be free to live where she wants.

The agreement ends a six-month battle that began when the teen took a Greyhound bus to Orlando, claiming her father threatened to kill her for switching Islam to Christianity.

Officials in Ohio say they found no credible evidence of the threat.

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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.

Attorney Angela M. Lloyd listens to
Rifqa Bary at Dec. 22 hearing (Photo: Columbus Dispatch

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”.

Get the book that exposed CAIR from the inside out – from WND’s Superstore!

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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An odd report — she doesn’t have to go home, but admitted she was “unruly.” Meredith “Hijab” Heagney, a willing journalistic tool of the Islamic supremacist agenda, casts aspersions on Rifqa’s claim that her father had threatened to kill her — despite the manifest flaws in the official investigations of the matter. In any case, if he didn’t, why doesn’t she have to go home?

Curiouser and curiouser.

“Runaway teen convert and parents end dispute,” by Meredith “Hijab” Heagney for the Columbus Dispatch, January 19 (thanks to Pamela):

The long legal dispute over runaway teen convert Fathima Rifqa Bary apparently ended in Franklin County Juvenile Court late this afternoon when the girl and her parents agreed that she’ll stay in the custody of Children Services and the family will try to resolve their issues with counseling.That leaves two options for Rifqa, who is in foster care: She could eventually reconcile with her parents and go home or stay in foster care until her 18th birthday on Aug. 10.

Rifqa admitted she was unruly when she fled her parents’ home last July to live with a Christian pastor and his family in Florida. She said at the time that her father, Mohamed, had threatened to kill her for abandoning the family’s Muslim faith, although authorities say they never found credible evidence that that was true.

Mohamed and Aysha Bary and their daughter all agreed today not to continue with the Juvenile Court dependency case. The next hearing, besides a minor hearing regarding a gag order on Monday, is set for her birthday.

Today’s decision ends months of legal action in Florida and Ohio.

In a statement read by Rifqa’s attorneys, both she and her parents said they loved each other and believe counseling is the best route.

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