Fathima Rifqa Bary, 16 from New Albany, OH

[pink angel]

I called NCFMEC and asked why Fathima isn't listed on the website. She said she is in NCFMEC system, just hasn't been put on the website yet.

The lady said she would try and get her up there.







Edit:  "Found Safe" to subject line.  MB

[joesamas mama]

I called NCFMEC and asked why Fathima isn't listed on the website. She said she is in NCFMEC system, just hasn't been put on the website yet.

The lady said she would try and get her up there.

Thank you LOVIN and PINK for the updates JSM's hinky meter is so up right now on this poor child.

Just one question, why is a 16 year old hanging around a University. TIA JSM

[pink angel]

JSM,

I am guessing since she goes to church near the campus, she has made friend's with some University students that attend the same church.

[Lovinlife]

The Ohio State University is a HUGE campus.  Currently the largest single-campus university in the US and the second largest employer in Columbus, 2nd to the State of Ohio itself. The campus itself is urban located just 2.5 miles from downtown Columbus (our state's capital). 

There is a huge Studen Christian Fellowship outreach program and I imagine this is how Fathima has contact with the University, JMO of course.  It is also very culturally diverse.

[pink angel]

Missing Teen Found Safe In Fla.
Friday,  August 7, 2009 3:59 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nearly three weeks after she was reported missing, a 16-year-old girl was found safe in Florida, police said on Friday.

Fathima Rifqa Bary, of New Albany, was last seen on July 19, 10TV News reported.

According to police, Bary's friends told detectives that it was possible she ran away because of conflicting religious beliefs in her home.

Investigators said Bary is affiliated with two central Ohio churches: one on Cleveland Avenue and the other near the Ohio State University campus.

They also said Bary may have been seen near campus the night she disappeared.

Bary was found safe in Orlando, Fla. Arrangements were being made for her return to central Ohio.

Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for more information.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/08/07/story_missing_teen.html?sid=102

YAY! Thank you god! What wonderful news.

[Leroy]

Yes it is wonderful news!!

[Fanny Mae]

I too, am happy she was found!   

I hope she doesn't face any retribution when she gets home, and her family welcomes her with open arms. 

[joesamas mama]

   Thank God she was found. Prayers were answered as I said a prayer for her today.

[Nut44x4]

I too, am happy she was found!   

I hope she doesn't face any retribution when she gets home, and her family welcomes her with open arms. 

I wouldn't count on it 

[Nut44x4]

Teen who converted to Christianity, fearing for her life, ordered to DCF custody

An Ohio teen runaway, fearing for her life after her Muslim family learned about her conversion to Christianity, was ordered to state custody this afternoon in Orlando.

The girl, who turned 17 today, had been staying with Blake and Beverly Lorenz, pastors of Global Revolution Church in Orlando.

The girl met the Orlando family through a prayer group on Facebook. The Orlando Sentinel has not named the girl because of her age.

Earlier today, Beverly Lorenz told the Sentinel the teen hitchhiked to a Greyhound station in Ohio, where she took a bus to Orlando.

The girl borrowed someone's phone and called Lorenz, whom she had only spoken with one other time on the telephone.

The girl asked Lorenz if she could come to her house. Even though the girl was essentially a stranger, Lorenz said it was OK.

The teen, who is not a U.S. citizen, told Lorenz she was fearful of her family -- scared they would hurt or kill her, or send her to native Sri Lanka.

After the girl arrived in Orlando, Lorenz said they called an abuse hotline and started calling lawyers, asking what they should do.

"We have spent hours trying to figure out what do we do and how do we protect this girl within the law?" Lorenz said.

On Friday, an Orlando police officer arrived at the Lorenz family home and picked the teen up to be placed in custody with the Department of Children and Families, Lorenz said.

Today, the girl, her father, the Lorenz family, lawyers and a handful of spectators were back in court. It's a complicated case, and the jurisdictional issues are complex.

The petite teen, who looks more like a middle school student than a 17-year-old, appeared in a girl's size 10 white dress with her hair neatly pulled off her face with a headband. When she walked into the courtroom, the teen immediately bolted for Beverly Lorenz, who held her.

The teen then joined Blake Lorenz at a table with lawyers. Lorenz comforted her throughout the entire hearing with his arm around her shoulder.

The 17-year-old, who sat quietly with her head down during the proceeding, looked more like a frightened child than a teen independent enough to travel across the country on a bus.

A lawyer representing the teen's dad said the girl could be placed into child-protection services in Ohio. The father objects to the teen staying with the Lorenz family.

The girl's father, who lives in Franklin County, Ohio, sat a table with a lawyer, but said little. The girl's mother phoned-in and had a court-appointed lawyer in the courtroom.

Rosa Gonzalez, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told Orange Circuit Judge Gail A. Adams the teen is in fear for her life.

The sight of her father makes the teen "frantic and hysterical," Gonzalez said.

The judge said the teen is to remain in DCF custody and set another hearing Aug. 21.

After the hearing, Gonzalez said her organization, which sends pro bono lawyers to work on cases involving Christian issues, is concerned the teen could be returned to her Muslim parents.

"We don't take those threats lightly," she said.

In a statement earlier today, a DCF spokeswoman said the agency is working with Ohio officials to ensure the teen's "safety and well being."

"We are working with law enforcement and Franklin County Children Services, as the child and family reside in Ohio," she said. "We will continue to work with the Court and Franklin County Children Services to ensure the child's safety and well being."

After the hearing Blake Lorenz said the teen believes her dad will kill her.

"We are doing everything we can to protect her," he said.

Lorenz said he is relieved she is not returning back to her family in Ohio immediately, but he's still cautious. He's "very concerned that the system will let her down."

Attempts to talk to the teen after this afternoon's hearing were unsuccessful -- her guardians ushered her out of the building without letting her speak to a Sentinel reporter.

On a baby sitter Web site, the girl describes herself this way:

"One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is cheerleading for my high school and of course tumbling as well. I have a little brother who is about to turn 5 years old. With this, I have had a lot of experience with toddlers and many years of sitting for him."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-ohio-teen-convert-custody-dispute-081009,0,4993216.story

[Lovinlife]

I am so glad they found Fathima safe: scared I bet, but safe.  And bless the Lorenz family for STANDING UP and fighting to keep Fathima safe & taking her in without question.  Now, if family services can just do the right thing...

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.wesh.com/news/20355466/detail.html
Religious Runaway Granted Foster Family
Fathima Bary, 17, Boards Bus To Central Florida

POSTED: 8:11 am EDT August 11, 2009
UPDATED: 9:18 am EDT August 11, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A teenager who came to Orlando in search of religious freedom said she could die if she is sent home.

Fathima Bary, 17, ran away from home in July after her Muslim parents found out she converted to Christianity.

Bary, a native of Sri Lanka, said she feared for her life, so she boarded a bus to Central Florida to find an Orlando family she met through a prayer group on Facebook.

A pastor took in the teenager and reached out to the state for help. A judge granted the Department of Children and Families custody to keep Bary in temporary foster care.

"Just keep her in your prayers. Keep her protected, and really believe they'll make a decision to keep her here and not send her back to Ohio, that they'll understand her life will be taken if she goes back," Global Revolution Church Rev. Blake Lorenz said.

Another custody hearing is slated for Aug. 21.

[sleddogs]

This is a must see video of Fathima Rifqa Bary


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0P5IaIE_LI



Sounds like she is in mortal danger.

[sleddogs]

Hopefully this girl can be protected



Help was too late for sisters Amina and Sarah Said

Muslim Father Kills Two Daughters in the USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=favzluXtznM&NR=1

[sleddogs]

More Honor Killings In The West, Yet No Outrage?
by  Pamela Geller
07/27/2009


“The struggle for women’s equality continues in many aspects of American life,” said Barack Obama in Cairo in June, “and in countries around the world.” Too bad Obama wasn’t speaking about Islam.

There have been three separate incidents of honor killing in the past week: seven women are dead in Canada, and one in Germany. All were Muslims. The world in the West is changing for women. This war being waged in our society by Islam is about women -- it’s about power, it’s about control.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32869

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.wesh.com/index.html
Police Question Story About Runaway Who Converted
Girl Said Her Muslim Father Said He Would Kill Her

POSTED: 2:36 pm EDT August 12, 2009
UPDATED: 2:47 pm EDT August 12, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A police detective is questioning the claim of an Ohio teenager who says she ran away to Orlando fearing for her life because she converted from Islam to Christianity.

Sgt. Jerry Cupp, head of the Columbus Police Department's missing persons' bureau, said the girl's father seems genuinely concerned and worried about his 17-year-old daughter, Fathima Bary.
Pastor Blake Lorenz from Global Revolution Church of Orlando opened his home to Fathima after he told her that her Muslim parents found out she had converted to Christianity four years ago. She says her father threatened to kill her when he uncovered her secret.

"He literally took a computer and said he was going to beat her with it and said, 'If you will follow Jesus, you're not my daughter. I will have you killed; I will kill you,' " Lorenz told WESH 2 News.

Cupp said Wednesday that police tracked the teen from Columbus to Orlando after interviewing a minister from Kansas City who had been in touch with the girl.
An Orlando judge on Monday ordered the girl into the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families until a hearing next week.

The teenager, who is not a U.S. citizen, says she fears her family would hurt her, kill her or send her back to her native Sri Lanka.

Fathima boarded a bus for Florida to meet the prayer group she found on Facebook.

[no rose colored glasses]

I wonder what happened that LE is now questioning her story?

[joesamas mama]

I wonder what happened that LE is now questioning her story?

No Rose, I don't know why LE is questioning her story. If she did convert, the Koran/Quran says that apostates must be given the chance to go back to Islam and if not they should be killed. I can get you the verses if you want me to.

It could be that she was being abused at home, as is often the case. Unfortunately I believe she will be sent back home to either be abused or be murdered. JMO JSM  I pray she is safe forever.

[no rose colored glasses]

I wonder what happened that LE is now questioning her story?

No Rose, I don't know why LE is questioning her story. If she did convert, the Koran/Quran says that apostates must be given the chance to go back to Islam and if not they should be killed. I can get you the verses if you want me to.

It could be that she was being abused at home, as is often the case. Unfortunately I believe she will be sent back home to either be abused or be murdered. JMO JSM  I pray she is safe forever.

  Well lets hope she isn't sent home.

[pink angel]

Father Denies Threatening Daughter Over Religious Conversion
Wednesday,  August 12, 2009 6:08 PM
Updated: Wednesday,  August 12, 2009 6:54 PM

NEW ALBANY, Ohio — A father denied accusations Wednesday that he threatened to kill his teenage daughter because she converted to Christianity.

Rifqa Bary, 17, is in protective custody in Florida and has refused to return home after making the allegations that her father, a Muslim, would kill her, 10TV's Cara Connelly reported.

Her father, Mohamed Bary, said those claims were not true.

"Not at all," he said. "It is completely false. Honestly, it is not my daughter who is speaking. I feel that she has been coached to say these things."

He said his daughter is being coached by Pastor Blake Lorenz, who leads Global Revolution Church in Orlando.

Rifqa said she met Lorenz over Facebook and ran to him and his wife for help. She has since expressed her desire to stay with the family, telling reporters in Florida that she believes her father would kill her.

"If they love God more than me then they have to kill me," Rifqa said.

Family members said they would never harm Rifqa. Her older brother, Rilyan, said the accusations of violence came up only after his sister met Lorenz.

"You also saw in the video someone is patting her on the back and saying good job," Rilyan said. "She's definitely been told what to doIt's not even her. She's not even making eye contact in the video. What does that tell you?"

A judge in Florida has ruled that Rifqa be placed with Children Services.

She is allowed supervised visits with Lorenz and her father.

Lorenz did not return 10TV's phone calls seeking comment on Wednesday, Connelly reported.
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/08/12/story_bary.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=102
video
http://columbusdispatch.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/columbusdispatch-x10tv-pub01-live/current/launch.html?playerId=10tvmain&referralPlaylistId=e07aeec746ba418844f894bd897902c46281ff98&referralParentPlaylistId=20a712fba28b4c9da4e8b8c091297a019f5a7f06&referralObject=8130515&referrer=copylink