Rifqa Bary controversy

History

Rifqa Bary is the only daughter of Mohamed and Aysha Bary. Her parents initially came to the U.S. to seek medical care for Rifqa after she became blind in her right eye. She grew up in the Columbus suburb of New Albany with her older brother Rilvan and her younger brother Rajaa. She and Rilvan attended New Albany High School. At the school Rifqa was a Straight A Student, a cheerleader, and a member of the track and field team. During her spare time she wrote poetry and took guitar lessons. Bary's parents have said that they are Muslims and pray five times a day. Her attorney, John Stemberger, who is the leader of a Christian advocacy group, claimed that the Bary family were members of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center (NICC), near Columbus. In an official statement, NICC denied it was familiar with Rifqa Bary or her family and stated that their records showed she attended the cultural center's Sunday School only three times in 2007.

Rifqa became a Christian in 2005 at the age of 13. In July 2009, she was secretly baptized in Big Walnut Creek, at Hoover Dam Park by her mentor and friend Brian Michael Williams, an aspiring pastor and college student while her family was not at home. Rifqa eventually became a member of Columbus Korean United Methodist Church.

In July 2009 Rifqa ran away from her family's home to the home of Orlando, Florida Christian pastor Blake Lorenz and his wife, Beverly, with whom Rifqa had communicated on Facebook. Rifqa had told Beverly Lorenz that her parents would kill her for converting to Christianity. Williams drove her to a bus station where a ticket was purchased under an assumed name for her bus ride to Orlando, Florida. Bary lived with the Lorenzes for 10 to 21 days (reports vary) before they contacted child welfare authorities, though Florida law required that they contact authorities within 24 hours of receiving Rifqa into their home. Rifqa eventually turned herself into the police and spent two nights in jail until a judge set her free.

Her case drew attention when she appeared on television and declared that her father said, "He would kill me or send me back to Sri Lanka," describing herself as the intended victim of an honor killing. A report commissioned by the Department of Justice under the Obama administration determined that honor killings are a credible threat for some young Muslim women who become "too Westernized."

Her parents said they never threatened to harm her. Her father, a jewelry salesman who travels to weekend trade shows in the south and midwest, told a reporter that, "Honestly, we didn't know why she left." Regarding the death threat described by his daughter, he said, "She doesn't know what she's talking about," and, "I want her to come back home. I love my daughter whether she's Christian, or anything else. I want my daughter back."

Law enforcement investigations

Rifqa Bary was taken into custody by Florida child welfare authorities while an investigation was conducted. The court appointed attorneys for her parents: private practitioner Craig McCarthy for the mother, and a lawyer from the state Florida Regional Council for the father. As is the result in the vast majority of cases involving alleged child abuse, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement report was inconclusive, finding no hard evidence of physical or verbal abuse.

In the report, Bary's father states that he did pick up his daughter's laptop to throw it, but did not throw it due to the cost of the laptop (Bary alleged that her father raised the laptop above her head as though ready to hit her with it). The FDLE report raised questions about one claim made by Bary: that her parents did not know she was a cheerleader. The FDLE report states that pictures of her in uniform were prominently displayed in the family's home three days later when the police visited and interviewed them, and that Mr. Bary signed the permission slip for her to be a cheerleader when Mrs. Bary would not. The FDLE report also stated that they did not investigate anyone in the larger Ohio Muslim community and that Florida authorities relied in part on the investigation done by authorities in Ohio.

On October 13, 2009, Orange County (Florida) Judge Daniel P. Dawson ruled that he would return Bary to Ohio pending a settlement of her immigration status. Emergency custody continued in Ohio.

Return to Ohio

On October 27, 2009, Bary was returned to Ohio and temporarily placed in the custody of Franklin County Children Services. The public agency was to monitor her internet and phone use and hoped to reunite the family before August 10, 2010, when Bary would turn 18 years old. A case-management plan was filed on December 1, 2009, stating that Bary and her family needed to have face-to-face talks about their understanding of Christianity and Islam as one step toward reunification.

On December 22, 2009, a magistrate of the Franklin county juvenile court denied Bary's parents' request for forced mediation and set the date for the dependency hearing for the end of January. The hearing was canceled on January 19, 2010, when a deal between the parties was reached with Bary becoming a dependent of the State of Ohio in exchange for admitting that she broke the rules when she ran away. On January 29, 2010, once it was learned that Bary would be allowed to contact Reverend Lorenz and his wife, Bary's parents, on the strict advice of their lawyer, requested to back out of the deal. On March 2, 2010, Judge Elizabeth Gill denied their request and ordered them to continue their counseling sessions so that Rifqa could return home to her family before she turned 18.

In June 2010, Bary graduated from Focus Learning Academy. That same year, she was diagnosed with a rare form of Uterine cancer. The doctors gave her one year to live. After three surgeries and nearly a year of chemotherapy, Bary stopped her cancer treatments. Her parents asked the courts to force their daughter to continue receiving chemotherapy, but they refused. Bary was later declared cancer free. She began studying biology in college, doing evangelistic ministry, and working on her first manuscript. On August 10, 2010, Bary turned 18 years old and Franklin County Children Services' custody of her ended.

After the gag order was lifted on her hearings, her father and mother stated that Bary had sent them a video two weeks prior, along with candy and music, saying she loved them. They also stated that Bary sent them letters including one where she thanked them for helping her be a successful student. At the same time, the parents' Ohio attorney, Omar Tarazi, indicated that Barys have not had a private face-to-face conversation with their daughter, even in the presence of a family counselor, since she ran away. In September 2010 after turning 18, Bary was granted residency in the United States. Omar dropped his lawsuit against Bary's lawyer, but he continued to try to sue Pamela Geller until September 21, 2011. On November 6, 2015, Bary became a legal US Citizen. On May 19, 2015, she released her debut book, "Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus." Bary says she now aspires to be a lawyer.

Writings

Public debate

The situation drew international attention and became a cause célèbre and point of "hostility between some Christians and Muslims."

Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida claimed that the controversy was caused "by far-right religious groups" portraying Islam and Muslims as extreme fundamentalists who might kill a child. Harry Coverston, a professor of religion, theorized that some individuals must have an enemy. In an article for FrontPage Magazine, conservative blogger and commentator Robert Spencer referred to the incident as a "slow-motion honor killing." Public figures Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio issued statements in support of Bary. Additionally, Mathew Staver, president of Liberty University School of Law and attorney for the Lorenzes, asserted that "Lorenz had a legitimate reason to believe Rifqa Bary was in fear for her life because she'd converted to Christianity."