Comments

This attorney opened his big mouth in violation of the Florida court's gag order. Rifqa's own attorneys have said nothing, but this supposed Christian has decided that the rules don't apply to him and that he needs to get in a word for Rifqa's mother.

Well then let's have a good look at Rifqa's mother. She knew that her daughter was being sexually abused by Rifqa's uncle. She did not report it and she did not stop it. She concealed the information. For years. The famed FDLE report indicated that they refused to investigatre the incident BECAUSE THEY WERE EXPECTING OHIO TO INVESTIGATE IT. This massive dereliction of duty is stunning. What is behind it?

Do you see the level of motherly commitment to Rifqa? Do you see that because Rifqa is a Christian who exposes the stench of Islam, she is to be insulted, dismissed, punished and silenced forever? Do you see how investigators have dismissed the huge body of scholarly work on the phenomenon of honor killings and of murdering the apostate? VOice of the Martyrs and International Christian Concern have both weighed in to indicate that Rifqa is in the most serious danger of imminent death.

Let us continue our focus on the mother. Rifqa's friends went with her to school authorities over 20 times because they saw the bruises and cuts on Rifqa's body from her father's beatings. In violation of all the laws of Ohio regarding child abuse, the school did not report the abuse.Though Rifqa's teacher offered to hide her from her father, she backed down for fear of the state. The FDLE refused to investigate these matters, because there was no Ohio initiated report. The shoddy professionalism indicatees that the best interest of the child mandate is not at work here. There is another mandate at work. What is that mandate? THe governor of Ohio is happily in receipt of a $50,000 contribution from a Mulim fundraiser. He raised his ignorant voicein favor of Rifqa's return. WHat is the mandate at work?

The mandate is to protect Islam at all costs, even if Rifqa Bary must die. Those of you who are Christian cannot be so clueless as to ignore the world wide war on Jesus. If you think that you will escape by pretending that the death sentence for apostacy does not exist in Islam, you are wrong. All four major branches of SunniIslam require death to the apostate.Shia lslam requires death to the apostate. The peculiar branch of Islam that exists in Sri Lanka requires that an apostate be killed within three days if he or she will not repent and return to Islam.It is the religion that no one can refuse. THey will kill you.

You have to be a willful ass to perceive this case as a case of parents' rights. No parent has the right to abuse a child. The mother did not love Rifqa enough to protect her from her uncle who raped her or her father who repeatedly beat her. Rifqa cannot see out of her left eye because her older brother was allowed to abuse her at will. His violence left her blind in the eye.

The living hell handed out to Muslim girls is rarely examined by the west. We are told it is none of our business. French auathorities notice that Muslim girls fall out of the window an awful lot. The social workers are aware that they are victims of honor killings. In Turkey an entire city has been renamed suicide city because the parents of Muslimi girls require the girls to 'commit suicide" so that the brother and fathers will not have to go to jail for killing them. THese are honor killings. THey have been in America, hidden and secret and now the secret is out.Defend Rifqa. CAIR will get mad at us. People might be mean to usthen what would we do? Aren't all cultures equal? Shouldnt we be silent like the worthless feminists? After all, it is none of our business. Right?

It's my business in my country on my watch. I have to answer to Jesus for the death of an innocent. So do you. If you Christians will refuse the ether and stop drinking the poisoned koolaid, you need to raise your voice and exert every nerve to save this girl.Do it now. It is just a matter of time before they come for you.

This is ridiculous. I don't like muslims any more than the next man. I have spent 22 years in the US Army as a military police officer and have done 4 tours in Iraq and 2 in Afganistan. But, to me, this is a family issue. Seventeen year old CHILDREN do not have free will and are not allowed to just leave the home and roam the countryside at will. She is a CHILD until she is eighteen. I have two children, a 19 yr old and a 21 yr old and while they lived under my roof and were under 18, they did what I and their mother told them to do - end of story.

Florida has NO JURISDICTION to examine or rule upon allegations of abuse that took place in another state. Federal law, specifically the UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURISDICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT (UCCJEA), prohibits this. That prevents parents who are divorcing from taking off with the children to another state and engaging in 'forum shopping.'

Everyone is getting all excited here because of the religious issue. But would you feel just as excited if you substituted the words 'christian' with pedophile or drug user? So now you would have a 17 yr old girl running off to be with a pedophile or drug user. Is that still okay?

A parent not only has the DUTY but the RIGHT to control their child's behavior. What's next, calling in the authorities just because mommy and daddy grounded you from the car and now you can't go to the big party?

Again, I don't like muslims or any of their ilk. But I also don't like government or other busy-bodies trying to tell me how to raise my children even more!

If you choose to confront Islam's history, long and venerable, of killing the apostate and the equally long Islamic history of families killing "unruly" girls that is known as honor killing, you begin to realize that only a determined fool would send this girl back to her family.
If the history of abuse, physical injury and rape that RIfqa has suffered at the hands of her family does not move you, nothing will. I don't care where you have been, perhaps you need to go back and open your eyes. An innocent girl is to be protected, not sent willy nilly to her fate.
You are legally incorrect. THe law provides that in the absence of an Ohio ruling, and it had not ruled, Florida had jurisdiction. Realize too that in the case of seeking asylum from abuse any of these states has jurusdiction. You have failed to consider that, the law recognizes special circumstances where abuse is involved in an emergency situation. The law holds the best interest of the child, not minimizing the embarrassment of the parent or protecting Islam , as the standard to be followed.

I agree strongly that the government should stay out of the parent-child relationship to the maximum degree possible. But. If there's credible evidence of abuse, the game changes. It has to be considered, the questions asked; and if it proves true, the court should intervene.

On a broader note, I find myself oddly enough, pleased to see this clash of cultures occurring. The Muslim practices that oppress and degrade women, and justify beatings and killings, are abhorrent, and I do mean utterly and without qualification, ABHORRENT. If we do not, as a nation and a culture, without any necessary reference to anyone's religion, reject and outlaw such practices, we are a morally bankrupt people. It must be confronted and dealt with.

If I had a sight picture, I'd be shooting everyone responsible for this abomination of 'justice'. Maybe I'll just withhold rain for seven years. Rifqa is welcome to live in my house, Yahweh Sabaoth/
Yeshua Moshiach/Holy Spirit also live here with me because I invited tham. This is just another event in a history of violence among 'religions.' It makes me want to puke.

If parental rights are absolute then we should stop complaining about abortion because, after all, that is a "private matter" too.

No parent has a right to kill his or her child.

This opportunistic lawyer (funny, that sounds redundant)is stretching the legitimate definiition of parental rights (the right to direct the upbringing of a child, for example, in Wiscoinsin v. Yoder)

Only in the wildest most extreme interpretation could killing a child be construed as "controlling her behavior."

I suspect these are disingenuous Islamists masquerading as CT readers.

In response to Todd: If her father was as intent to retrieve her from the pedophile/drug user, I would consider his story. If his problem is her embrace of Christianity, where he is mandated to kill her, I take her side in my consistent pro-life stance. I think yours is an apple vs. orange comparison.

Most of these comments grieve particularly, given the web site upon which they are made.

Let me see, Todd says his kids are to obey him. So, he approves of his or his wife's brother continually having sex with his daughter and when his daughter says no to the brother, he, the almighty father to be obeyed has the right to beat his daughter. Buddy, you're talking about rape, incest and endangering the life of a child, and that's just a few of the laws being broken and you're promoting these crimes on your own child. None of these crimes compare to a pedaphile who brainwashes the child he rapes or drug user or a kid being grounded. Your brother is the pedaphile, your daughter is not a drug user or a kid not allowed to drive a car. She is being raped, beaten, and neither you or your wife see these as crimes. If you're a former police officer you should know the laws and the difference between rape and concentual sex, but since you served in Muslim counties obviously you picked up their beliefs of which one is 17 year olds are to be married to a Muslim of parents choosing. I'll bet the uncle didn't like loosing his sex and threatened the girl. The people at the Ohio school should be fired, fired, fired. It is their job to recognize rape, beatings and to report them, period. In fact, they should be sued by this 17 year old for aiding and abetting the crimes forced on this girl. I'll bet she refused to go over to a Muslim country to bring back a husband picked for her too. Yes, where are the feminists, they sure supported homosexuals, what about these young girls living in a hell made by their god Mohammed who was a sex pervert who not only had sex with his many wives but with slave girls too. Now you know where this sick sexual control of women is coming from, the creator of Islam.

According to the court, no credible evidence of abuse or danger have been found in this case. The child should be returned to her parents. Paranoid fears of Islam in general do not count as evidence in the context of this specific family.

To voice of reason: You didn't read the post where it said the court made no attempt to check into the abuse. There were witnesses from Ohio who saw the abuse for years, one teacher even offered help to the girl. As far as I'm concerned this was negligence on the court's part. Florida puts illegal immigrant girls into their social services system who were brought here to work in homes and for sex. These girls are not returned to their homes and parents in whatever country they were shipped in from. Why this same help wasn't given to a born in America citizen is the real question here. The whole thing sounds like another Ohio coverup in Florida.
Policians and courts don't want to get into the middle of this Muslim quamire showing up in this country due to the Muslims becoming so pervalent in this country with more money than the average American citizen. The laws of this country are supposed to be applied to all citizens not thrown aside because these girls happen to be born as Muslims. They should have the same legal rights as any other 17 year old in this country. The right to refuse marriage at any age to a man they don't get to pick is being turned into the right for Muslim men to force girls to be married to them and be raped for the rest of their lives, the same priviledge men have in other Muslim countries. Paranoid, yes, women in this country should be paranoid of a culture that starts slowly and ends up being the norm for all women, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Look at the laws in other Muslim countries for women. The laws started somewhere and men promoted them, just like the court system of men in Florida just did. We Christian women better get ready for the war that is coming for the rights of women. They're about to be changed by of all people, Christian men.

Original Anna, you should refrain from commenting on things you know nothing about. You claim the Florida court "refused to check into the abuse." First, courts in this country are not permitted to undertake investigations themselves, nor can they order law enforcement to undertake investigations for them. (In France, in contrast, the courts undertake or order investigations directly. You're not advocating that we adopt the French system, are you?) Courts here in this country receive evidence during trials or evidentiary hearings. A trial in this case is scheduled for October.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement undertook an investigation because there was a report of a crime. They DID investigate the reports of abuse. Here are the results of that investigation: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/fdle-report-finds-no-evidence-family-abused-runaway-teen/1036122 There were two investigations by Ohio law enforcement that apparently found the same thing. http://www.newsweek.com/id/215100/page/1

The girl's story appears to not be supported by the evidence, but she'll have her day in court if there is other evidence that FDLE did not find or consider. The teacher told the FDLE that she offered to help the girl, not because the girl was being abused by family members, but rather, because the girl's older brother was having late-night parties at the house while the parents were away and the parties made the girl uncomfortable.

The FDLE did refuse to investigate the larger Islamic community in Columbus and the mosque that the family sometimes attended, because investigating a religious community without a "specific identifiable criminal predicate" is "inappropriate" according to FDLE. I agree. Plus, if there is evidence that there is some plot at the mosque or in the greater Columbus Islamic community, the girl can present that at trial. But, you've ignored that the FDLE's investigation into the girl's parents revealed that they permitted her to become a cheerleader, even displaying a photograph of her in her cheerleading outfit in their home. (How did she hide all those supposed cuts and bruises in that skimpy cheerleading outfit?? These parents hardly sound like the sharia-crazed fundamentalists you make them out to be. The Newsweek article reports that the Mosque that the girl's attorney claims is the hotbed of terrorist activities instead "regularly hosts interfaith events."

The Florida Courts HAVE put the girl into the "social service system." She has a guardian ad litem (a woman) and is staying with foster parents under the supervision of Florida's Department of Children and Families, which IS Florida's "social service system." The girl is to remain under the protection of DCF until a trial or other resolution of the case.

The notion that there is some conspiracy involving the Florida court, FDLE, Florida DCF, Ohio's courts, Ohio's social service system, and Franklin County Schools, is beyond ludicrous.

And, before you indict the entire Florida legal system as being a "court system of men," whatever that means, please consider the the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court is a woman.

Christian Lawyer has it terribly wrong. If he had actually read the FDLE report, he would have seen the report repeatedly state that FDLE could not consider crimes that occurred outside the state of Florida. That notwithstanding, both the FDLE report indicated that Rifqa's father admitted to the "laptop" incident, where Rifqa claims he threatened to kill her because of her Christian faith. Her mother has elsewhere admitted to threatening to send her daughter back to Sri Lanka.

And as for the supposedly "interfaith" mosque her parents attend, Christian Lawyer should actually read the court filing prepared by Rifqa's attorney documenting the numerous instances of extremist speakers frequenting the mosque (many listed right on the mosque's website). And their former scholar-in-residence, Salah Sultan, is quite a peach too, who has been caught on video sitting with designated terrorists. Sultan, who now lives in Bahrain, was recently on Egyptian TV saying that Muslims will have to kill all the Jews before the Day of Judgment. How interfaith can you get??

Christian Lawyer: I probably know more than you do about Muslims and the religion of Islam. I live in an area where Muslims are all of a sudden showing up with loads of money buying up Mom and Pop businesses, national hotels, etc., opening up a School of Islam, building a Mosque that towers over the largest church in this area, starting up a radio station where at the beginning of this year, the husband cut off the head of his wife who ran the radio station because she asked for a divorce; and,demanding that city meetings should have an Arabic interpreter. 17 year old Muslim girls are marrying foreign Muslim men who move over here. In the last year, we've had five 17 yr old girls disappear from their homes, only one has been found who told police she didn't want to marry, wanted to go to college and marry someone she loved or stay single. Immediately across the border they also are looking for two missing 17 yr old Muslim girls. My post was answering two specific posts who think (if posting by Weber and the first comment by Bronym are true) that it's alright for a girl to be raped by an uncle and be beaten up because what's important is that children especially girls be obedient to their fathers and that posting is by a military police officer who should know that beatings and incest rape is against the law. Muslims don't ask if its wrong to beat a woman, they ask how bad and where can you beat her and with what can you beat her. That's their thinking, you know like the guys who say the 3 yr old girl they raped and killed flirted with them and wanted sex with them because the child smiled at them. As for the French law system, I don't live there, but I do know they have passed laws against the Muslim head dress in schools and are having serious problems with Muslims there. I'm glad the Florida court took the girl into the social services system, I said that's what they should have done but that wasn't indicated in the first postings. I just hope she doesn't show up dead after she's released from the system. These people can wait forever to "teach you who's in control". An uncle across the border waited 5 years to get his niece and than the law had to wait for him to come back into the country because he went back to his home country for six years.

Thomas Paine, you've completely mischaracterized what the FDLE report said. And, here's what the FBI has (and has not) found:

"FBI spokesman Michael Brooks, who works out of the bureau's Cincinnati office, which covers Columbus, 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."

The FDLE did, however, uncover many apparent untruths told by Rifqa. The Florida court will have a trial and then all the facts will come out.

Original Anna, I minored in Middle Eastern studies in college, so I've studied Arab and Islamic history, the Arab language, and Jewish and Israeli history and the Hebrew language. Do you even know any of the Muslims in your town you so fiercely condemn? You indict an entire religion when you broadly claim "Muslims don't ask if its wrong to beat a woman, they ask how bad and where can you beat her and with what can you beat her. That's their thinking." Seriously? ALL OF THEM? Your blanket condemnations are shamefully ignorant and frighteningly judgmental.

No one was posting in support of the raping of a young girl by an uncle. There's just no evidence to support the allegation that the girl was being raped at all. Reading the FDLE report, it appears that the girl never even claimed to the FDLE that she had been raped. How can you, in good conscience, continue to perpetuate "facts" that are clearly refuted by easily accessible public information?

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, adopted by almost all states, and in effect in Florida, provides a mechanism for the Florida courts to consider whether the girl needs an emergency order to protect her. A trial is scheduled. Everyone will have their day in court to put on whatever real evidence they have. Before you indict an entire religion, let's see what the evidence actually is.

Jesus said He came to "dismantle" families, father against son and daughter against mother. Matt.10:34, Luke 12:51. Jesus said "Do not forbid little children to come unto Me". Mr. McCarthy was blessed to grow up in a Christian home. Is he suggesting that the children of Muslims should not be evangelized? Rifqa visited a church voluntarily herself. If a minor becomes a Christian believer in a home where he or she may be persecuted, the fact is he/she has no protection in U.S. law as long as the parents deny it, which, of course, they will. I listened to Rifqa's 2 hour interview by FLDE, in which she was required to prove a prosecuter's case against her family, and that without a lawyer present despite her asking about one. Probably in the overwelming majority of cases a minor couldn't do that beyond a reasonable doubt even if everything alleged is true. So, as the law stands, a minor convert can be persecuted and really has no legal recourse. A sad realization for the United States of America. Rifqa did all she could do, which was to run.
I find the weight that is given to the cheerleading photo unconvincing. No one knows when or how her parents acquired that photo, and, especially, no one knows whether it was displayed in the Barys' home before Rifqa's story hit the media. Rifqa herself said that her father drove her to the practices but no one in her family came to a game, and that she wore sweat pants with the uniform at home. Her mother doesn't drive. She said to ask her coaches. Did anyone do that? Here is a question to ask: Are there any photos of Rifqa at the mosque without a hijab? That would be better evidence of whether her fear of her father buckling to what the mosque community expects is true or not. Was the cheerleading photo on display when the mosque youth group visited their home? Can anyone expect a straight answer on that? In their taped interview her mother is wearing a hijab. I question whether such a woman agreed to see the cheerleading photo smilihg at her everyday. Rifqa didn't just say she was physically abused and threatened to be killed. She also said her fmmily threatened to return her to Sri Lanka. Her father sold his busines the month after he learned she is a Christian. Is there any other reason anyone knows why he sold the business?. The fact that Rifqa and/or her supporters may have lied or exaggerated on some points, does not mean that her overall story is false, that there was a big confrontation, conflict, collision, show-down, or whatever you want to call it, when her parents learned of her Christian faith. She may have been lying because she is smart enough to know that she really had no recourse once her parents found out. If she was not physically abused heretofore, but was threatened once her parents found out, what recourse does Mr.McCarthy know of that she had? I consider that to be the most inportant questiion. I will be vey happy to learn an answer to that question.
Sincerely
Marian

This girl is going to be murdered by her father in accordance with the teachings and traditions of Islam.

And CHRISTIANS are supporting it by wanting her to be sent back to these people?

Beyond belief. Truly.

Well we Christians can appear to be a little on the fruitcake side. Look at the "AIrport" scene and how some "respected" "Christian" journalists came down on the positive side of it. I remember when billy Graham had "crusades" and one youth group was called the "crusaders." But it is time to get real now; can't be so sloppy in our thinking. It's not the first time legal authorities have had to step in and deal with family situations. Had this been little Sally being abused by old man Jeremiah Baker in Cussfield, Arkansas why everybody would be rooting for the sheriff and praying for little Sally. Y'all 're too darn islamophobique to give a hoot about this poor little flesh and blood girl.
And you "men"; "Macho-men" ...wanting to keep control of your girls. That's the way you like it .. well you are most of the way there, so say the shahada, become a Muslim ..better still- join the Taliban- and blow yourself to Hell - there you'll be able to profit from a whole bunch of young Houris. Macho enough for you?