Rifqa Bary | News & Videos

This afternoon (Tuesday, Jan. 19’th 2010) Rifqa Bary was declared a dependent of the state of Ohio! This is very good news for Rifqa because it ensures that she will remain in foster care until she is 18. This 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 went to trial. The dependency trial that was scheduled for January 28’th is now cancelled. In exchange for dependency, Rifqa agreed that she violated rules by fleeing her home.

We can celebrate this victory. It is good news for others in Rifqa’s situation that need to flee their home when facing persecution as a result of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Rifqa still needs your prayers for the following:

1. Rifqa needs to be given contact with people she chooses. She has been isolated for far too long.

2. The people who put their lives on the line to rescue her (the Lorenz family and Brian Williams) need to be protected from the false accusations that have been leveled against them.

3. Pray for a suitable foster home for Rifqa until she is 18.

4. Rifqa needs prayer for personal protection. There have been numerous death threats made against her life because she left Islam to become a follower of Jesus.

Many thanks go to all the brave men and women who wrote and called officials both in Florida and in Ohio, who traveled to rallies and hearings, who prayed in church gatherings, journalists and activists who proclaimed the truth about her situation, and attorneys who defended her and gave advice regarding her legal situation. God bless you all.

Jamal Jivanjee

www.illuminate-us.com

If you would like to view previous articles, you can access them by going to www.illuminate-us.com and clicking on the “writings” link.

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CAIR attorney lies in court motions in Rifqa Bary case, commits perjury about connections to CAIR and Ohio terror mosque.

The CAIR attorney representing the Bary parents in the Rifqa Bary saga has not only committed a major legal blunder, but has perjured himself in motions recently submitted to the Ohio court. In the filings, CAIR attorney Omar Tarazi denied connections to CAIR and to the Ohio terror mosque responsible for pressuring Rifqa’s father, Mohamed Bary, prompting the threats to his daughter about her conversion to the Christian faith.

When the case was still in Florida, Rifqa’s attorney John Stemberger submitted a 35-page memorandum to the court about the extensive terror ties of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, the mosque attended by the Bary family. To avoid exposing the Noor Center’s radical connections (the mosque’s founder and spiritual leader Hany Saqr was identified in documents in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial as one of the top North American leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and the mosque’s former resident scholar Salah Soltan has appeared at events in the Middle East with designated terrorists), any connection between the Noor Center, CAIR and parents’ attorneys were repeatedly dismissed in court by the Florida attorney Shayan Elahi. In an appearance on Fox News this week, Elahi lied again about CAIR and Noor’s involvement.

Now that CAIR and the Noor Center’s major role in this case has been raised again in Ohio, Omar Tarazi has attempted to conceal the connections and directions that both have played in this case, and the obvious conflict of interest presented in Tarazi’s attempt to represent the parents while taking direction from CAIR and the Noor Center leadership.

In these recent motions, Tarazi openly lied to the court about CAIR and Noor’s involvement in the case, claiming no association with either and denying that they are involved in funding the Bary parents’ case. But we can present here exclusive evidence disproving those lies in the form of a Facebook email sent by none other than Noor Center CEO Hany Saqr announcing that Tarazi would be speaking at Eid morning prayers on November 27th:

According to three independent sources who were at Tarazi’s talk, he not only gave an update on the case, but a collection was taken afterward to finance his client’s case. If he is receiving no compensation from this offering, where exactly is the money going that has been raised on several occasions by the mosque specifically for the Bary’s defense? In addition, at least one member of the local media was in attendance at his presentation — an explicit violation of the judge’s gag order in the case. Tarazi also forgot to mention in his filings that he is a regular attendee at the terror mosque. No connections, eh?

Two weeks ago we presented here conclusive photographic evidence of CAIR’s management of the media in this case. We also noted back in September that CAIR officials were present when Florida investigators interviewed Rifqa’s parents (conversely, Rifqa was interrogated alone for three and a half hours without her attorneys present). And back in August when this case first began, we noted from inside sources that CAIR was formulating a media strategy to promote lies about Rifqa and the Florida pastors that received her after her escape from the Bary home.

Why would Omar Tarazi jeopardize his legal career and face possible criminal penalties to continue to cover-up CAIR and the Noor Center’s involvement in this case when evidence is already available exposing his lies? Only Tarazi can answer that question. And we hope the judge in this case demands some answers.

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Two heart-aching long-running legal battles involving children have fantastic outcomes just in time for Christmas!

Within a few hours, we may get the confirmation that 9-year-old Sean Goldman is on the plane flying home with his REAL father, David Goldman, to be with his REAL family in his REAL home, the United States of America.

This will end the five-year custody battle that David Goldman has waged in Brazilian courts. David’s ex-wife had illegally taken their baby to Brazil years ago, and when she died, her relatives refused to gave Sean back to his bio-dad.

Thanks to the Bring Sean Home Foundation, with 54,000+ members on Facebook.

The good news for 17-year-old Rifqa Bary is that she will NOT be forced to return to her Muslim parents, whom Rifqa believes will “honor kill” her because of her conversion to Christianity.

Rifqa ran away to a Florida Christian congregation earlier this year. A court there ordered her back to Ohio to a foster family while a possible “reunification” with her parents was being considered. Her family’s attorney had required that Rifqa be cut off from all contact with the outside world the past few months–she has not been able to use the Internet or receive mail.

While Rifqa’s case has been pending, 20-year-old Noor Almaleki was critically injured and later died from an “honor killing in Phoenix, Arizona in November. Noor’s father is being prosecuted for murdering her by running her over with his car because she was too “Westernized.”

Yesterday, the Ohio judge ruled that Rifqa does NOT have to go back to her parents for now, she does not have to undergo any “mediation” with them, and the communications “embargo” placed on her by her parents is lifted! (there will be a trial in 2010 on this matter, and her parents are trying to force her into medication and counseling with a Muslim therapist, so this case will still need monitoring.)

The main question in the Rifqa Bary case is why is one young girl who converted out of Islam being persecuted by the “political correctness police” and the U.S. legal system ? Her parents are being represented by the well-funded Muslim-interest organization CAIR (see Pamela Geller’s article explaining the continuing issues on American Thinker.com )

Here is a website with information on how to send Rifqa Bary a Christmas card.

Congratulations and thank-yous in the Rifqa Bary case to:

–Pamela Geller, publisher of AtlasShrugs.com, who has tirelessly championed Rifqa’s case with her many postings and public appearances, her organization of support groups and “court-house” monitoring by Patriots who took time out of their lives to come from all over the country to see justice be done…

–Robert Spencer, of Jihad Watch, a leader of the movement to expose Islamic terrorism in the U.S.

Thank you to all good freedom-loving Americans who wrote, called, drove, marched, watched and helped guard the interests of these two children.

Thy Will be done………one child at a time.

Jane Jamison is publisher of the conservative news/commentary blog, UNCOVERAGE.net

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Attorneys in dependency case reach common ground on a few matters

Attorneys for Fathima Rifqa Bary and her parents haven’t agreed on much, but they have settled a couple of small matters in the case of the 17-year-old runaway.

They have agreed that all mail to Rifqa from people who aren’t relatives will be reviewed by her guardian ad litem, the attorney appointed by the court to represent her interests, to “ensure that no inappropriate messages are forwarded to Ms. Bary.”

They also have agreed that Rifqa cannot have any contact with Blake Lorenz, Beverly Lorenz or Brian Williams until her counselor determines whether it would be in her best interest.

The Lorenzes are pastors in Florida whom Rifqa stayed with when she ran away. Authorities have said that Williams, an evangelical in his 20s who baptized Rifqa, drove her to the Greyhound bus station in Columbus when she ran away from home in July.

Rifqa, a New Albany High School student, said she left her Northeast Side home because her father, Mohamed Bary, threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity. Mr. Bary denies the accusation, and authorities in Ohio and Florida have found that she was not in danger.

A dependency case to determine where Rifqa should live is making its way through Franklin County Juvenile Court, where the attorneys frequently file motions on minute details of Rifqa’s life and activities.

For instance, Omar Tarazi, the attorney for Mr. Bary and his wife, Aysha, had asked that third-party messages to Rifqa be reviewed by Franklin County Children Services, which has custody of the girl. He was concerned about letter-writing campaigns to Rifqa publicized on blogs that malign Islam.

That resulted in the agreement to have her guardian look at them. The magistrate’s order says “incoming mail” but does not specify whether that includes e-mail.

The two sides also have argued over whether Rifqa’s counselor should be a woman. Rifqa’s attorneys, Kort Gatterdam and Angela Lloyd, have accused the Barys of forcing Rifqa to submit to Islam by making her see a male counselor, because she was raised in a male-dominated home.

Tarazi disputed that, saying Gatterdam and Lloyd file documents “containing baseless assertions that would be characterized as nothing more than religious and cultural bigotry.”

He has asked that monitoring software be installed on Rifqa’s computer because she made comments online related to the circumstances of her running away.

Gatterdam and Lloyd responded that the Barys are trying to invade Rifqa’s privacy and control her.

Tarazi also has asked the court to rule that no witnesses or others in the case should be allowed to mention incidents between Rifqa and her parents that occurred more than 24 hours before she ran away. He also wants to bar any discussion about religious teaching. That could include a discussion about Islam’s rules for dealing with converts.

Gatterdam and Lloyd wrote that the parents’ earlier behavior is relevant, and they noted that the parents themselves have brought up religion as a factor in the case.

The magistrate in the case has yet to rule on those motions.

Gatterdam and Lloyd also wrote, in a document filed Dec. 17, that Tarazi “made himself unavailable” after they had begun to work “toward a settlement of the case where one of the terms would have been that all motions and memoranda would be withdrawn.”

None of the attorneys is allowed to talk about the case, under an order from Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Gill.

The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19.

mheagney@dispatch.com

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A Franklin County Juvenile Court magistrate on Tuesday, denied a motion to allow mediation between Fathima Rifqa Bary and her parents.

Rifqa Bary, 17, faced her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, at a hearing on Dec. 22. The teen is staying in a foster home after she had told authorities that her father had allegedly threatened to harm her because she converted from Islam to Christianity.

Omar Tarazi, a lawyer representing the Bary’s, asked Magistrate Mary Goodrich to allow for mediation between the Barys and their daughter, without the presence of attorneys.

“We believe in the grand scheme of things that the girl has lived with her parents for 16 years — almost 17 — before she ran away, and now it has been months and there has been no contact,” Tarazi said.

“We feel it’s very necessary to break that ice and to show that they can sit down without attorneys present,” Tarazi added. “That would be very healthy for both parties moving forward in meeting some kind of reconciliation.”

In July, Bary fled from her parents home to Orlando, Fla. She was 16 at the time. Authorities found her in Florida, staying with Global Revolution Church pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz. She had met the couple online.

Bary was returned to Ohio after the Florida courts decided the case belonged in Ohio. Franklin County Children Services then took on the case.

Before coming back to Ohio the Florida Department of Family and Children’s Services had custody of Bary.

Since returning to Ohio, Rifqa and her parents have been asked to seek individual counseling.

Kort Gatterdam, one of the teenager’s attorneys, told the magistrate the allegations of what the parents reportedly threatened to do to their daughter were serious.

In September, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement released a report on the case that said the teen’s allegations were unfounded, however. But the incident hasn’t failed to exact an emotional toll on the teen, Gatterdam told the court.

A recent psychological report indicates Rifqa Bary suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, Gatterdam said.

Mediation without attorneys present would only do harm, he said.

“To force this onto this party in this stage of the game is inappropriate,” Gatterdam said. “We want to wait for the counselors to do their job. We think to have mediation now would sabotage what the counseling is doing.”

Goodrich ultimately decided counseling would continue and denied the request for mediation.

Prior to the hearing, the teen’s supporters congregated in front of the courtroom. About 20 of those supporters had formed a prayer circle.

Alinna Ghavami, 20, was one of the supporters. She traveled from Salem, Ore., to support Bary, she said. She’s a biology student at Oregon State University.

“I’m familiar with Islam and familiar with how big of a deal it is to change faith, especially from Islam to Christianity and it’s one thing to do that, but it’s another to have your parents threaten to do something to you,” Ghavami said. “I feel strongly in support of her and her decision.”

Ghavami didn’t travel alone. Her friend Robert Bovey, 26, also of Salem, came to support Rifqa Bary as well. He’s a corrections officer.

He said he felt he had to support her after he heard about her story through the media and a YouTube video in which the teen explained her situation to a reporter.

“Really it’s about Rifqa. She’s the focus, and for her to show up and see people supporting her — there’s an impact,” Bovey said.

Bovey said there are other girls who live in fear because they want to convert from Islam.

“If it turns out and she’s freed, it will hopefully give them hope that they can be helped,” Bovey said.

The next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19.

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Several positive developments progressed this week in the case of an Ohio teenager who converted to Christianity from Islam and has been fighting the efforts of her Islamic parents to have her returned to their custody.

Seventeen-year-old Rifqa Bary ran away from her parents’ Columbus-area home in July as she feared being killed for converting to Christianity. She traveled to Orlando, but after a series of legal wranglings, a judge ordered her to return to Ohio where she has been living in a foster home since October 27.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, a Franklin County magistrate ruled Tuesday that the Christian girl does not have to participate in mediation with her parents. Tom Trento, director of the Florida Security Council, one of the organizations that has been fighting on Bary’s behalf, explains the two sides of the case.

“The Rifqa legal team is saying that the parents are a threat to her and that she should not be returned; she should stay as a foster child in the care of Ohio until she’s 18 and make up her own mind,” he says. “And the other side, the family side, is saying, ‘No, we want her back.’”

So Trento believes the only way to solve this custody fight might be through the courts.

“If it goes to trial — which none of us think it will; we think there’ll be a last-minute deal where she remains a ward of the state — because if it goes to trial, then you’re going to see experts on honor killings on Sharia law [and] on apostasy,” he predicts.

The Florida Security Council director thought the Ohio magistrate might set a trial date on Tuesday, but he only scheduled a January 19 date for the next hearing on the case, moving young Bary closer to her 18th birthday.

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Good news for now for Rifqa Bary. She can celebrate Christmas without, for now, being returned to her parents, or to Sri Lanka. The Ohio Children’s Services continues to manage her case, and there will be another hearing on January 19. This case is a marathon, folks, and it isn’t going to be over until the proverbial fat lady sings–that is, until Rifqa turns eighteen on August 10, 2010. Then, if she is still in the United States and safe, she can begin thinking about what to do with her life, how to stay safe from the Muslim community, and how to deal with her immigration situation.

The magistrate ruled that she does not have to have mediation meetings with her parents. Her parents were trying to have her ordered to forced meetings with them. It’s a good sign, as far as as it goes, that the magistrate (I gather, a kind of assistant judge) would not order this, as that (hopefully) bodes well for her not being forced to go back and live with them.

The Grinch–aka Tarazi, the CAIR-affiliated lawyer, evidently realized the lead-balloon qualities of his motion to have all her Christmas cards seized and withdrew it. Negative publicity does help.

Evidently some sort of counselor is trying to determine whether Rifqa has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is the first I’ve heard of this. If she were so diagnosed, that would look pretty bad for her parents (normal teenagers should not have PTSD from living with their families). On the other hand, it might be used as an excuse for not listening to her or for ordering her medicated against her wishes, so all in all, I think it would be better if it were dropped.

Issues that remain unresolved or that I have not been able to hear of any resolution on:

–Her status as a “wayward” (incorrigible) child, which her parents had attempted to have declared. Evidently, that remains hanging.

–Her ability to communicate with the outside world. The last update from Jamal Jivanjee (go here and click on “Rifqa Bary Update” on the sidebar) indicated that someone (I couldn’t tell who) was telling him a lot of baloney to the effect that no minors in foster care in Ohio or anywhere else in the country can ever have visitors–a manifest falsehood, since Jamal and others freely visited Rifqa in Florida. This seemed to mean that no move would be made to change her status of being held without visitors in foster care, and I have heard nothing to the contrary. Nor have I heard any good news in the area of her being able to use the Internet or telephone freely. These were privileges withdrawn immediately upon her being returned to Ohio. It appears that she is allowed to receive physical letters (see the Christmas cards) and possibly to write physical letters, though the latter is an inference on my part.

–Her status as a “dependent child.” Pastor Jamal Jivanjee clearly considers that it is to her benefit, legally, to be declared a dependent child by the court. Evidently (though I don’t fully understand the legalities of this) that declaration would make it somewhat less likely that she would be returned to her parents, though it would still lie with the discretion of the court. (Such is my perception.) That matter was not decided at this hearing, rather surprisingly. That is apparently the reason for the hearing on January 19th. Atlas reports that the parents are now fighting a dependency declaration, so this confirms that a dependency declaration would be a good thing for Rifqa from the perspective of keeping her from her family.

–The issue of forced counseling from a Muslim. The Jawa Report (which claims to have a source funneling information from inside CAIR) discovered that someone or other has picked out a Muslim counselor for Rifqa and that her parents’ lawyer wanted to have her held in contempt of court for refusing to meet with this counselor. What a coincidence, huh, that the chosen counselor should be a Muslim? I haven’t been able to hear anything about whether this issue even came up at the hearing today.

I’m beginning to take cautious hope in this case. Every month that passes makes it marginally less likely that the courts will forcibly return her to her family. While it would in principle be possible for them to do so immediately before her 18th birthday, it would, shall we say, look bad. She has eight months to go. I take it as a good sign that the court did not order forced meetings with the parents. I ask that those who are praying for Rifqa not grow weary in well-doing, as she still has months of uncertainty before her and a life to work out after that, while still very young and in a tenuous legal position in this country. (Rifqa’s parents let their visas expire, so both she, who was brought in on her mother’s visa, and they, are now here illegally.)

Here’s wishing a merry Christmas to Rifqa, even though she can’t read it.

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