Christian Girl Must Go Back Home Judge Rules
A 17-year old girl
who fled from her home, fearing her Muslim parents would kill her for
converting to Christianity, must go back to Ohio,
a Florida
judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge
Daniel Dawson ruled Ohio
has jurisdiction over the case involving the teen, Rifqa Bary.
Before
the girl gets sent back, the judge says he needs immigration papers proving her
status in the U.S. and proof
from the state of Florida that she can
continue her virtual schooling and receive credit in Ohio.
She is
expected to be placed in foster care when she returns and will also be provided
with psychiatric evaluations. Her parents will also receive psychiatric
evaluations.
Rifqa
can be back in Ohio
as early as this week, or by an Oct. 23 follow-up hearing.
LIVESHOTS: Judge
Rules Against Teen Christian Convert.
Rifqa
fled to Florida
after her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, learned that she was baptized earlier
this year without their knowledge. The parents reported her missing to Columbus, Ohio,
Police on July 19. Weeks later, using cell phone and computer records, police
tracked the girl to the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution
Church.
In an
emotional six-minute interview with WFTV in Florida,
Rifqa, who met Lorenz through an online Facebook group, said she expects to be
killed if she is forced to return to Ohio.
"If
I had stayed in Ohio,
I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150 generations in family, no one
has known Jesus. I am the first — imagine the honor in killing me."
But a
Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found no credible threats
to Bary.
Contacted
by FOXNews.com, Rifqa'a father Mohamed Bary said he has no intentions of
harming his daughter.
"I
love my daughter and I want her to come back to the family," he said,
declining further comment
The Barys reportedly emigrated
from Sri Lanka
in 2000 to seek medical treatment for Rifqa, who lost the sight in her right
eye following an accident at home.