A Florida-based organization believes immigration papers may be the only thing that will prevent a 17-year-old Christian convert from Islam from being returned to her Muslim parents in Ohio.
Orlando judge Daniel Dawson said Tuesday that he will sign the order to send 17-year-old Rifqa Bary back to Ohio when he gets the documents on her immigration status. Bary has been in foster care in Orlando while her case was being reviewed. The judge says he will likely turn over the case to an Ohio court in the next few weeks. (See earlier story) The teenager ran away from her parents' Columbus-area home in July, saying she feared being killed for converting to Christianity. But a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found no credible threats to Bary. Tom Trento is director of the Florida Security Council, an organization dedicated to the defeat of Islamic terrorism. While concerned about the prospect of young Rifqa being returned to a threatening environment, he is pleased that the judge has ordered the parents' lawyer to turn over the appropriate immigration papers. "Judge Dawson said [basically that] 'custody may be a right of the state of Ohio, but this young girl is not leaving Florida until I see the immigration papers from the Barys that I have been asking for.'" Trento says he is concerned that if young Rifqa is returned to Ohio, she might be deported back to Sri Lanka with her family, or they might take her there voluntarily. "This intermediary step to custody of the state is just a front, just a guise," he comments. "Our sources say that she is going to be given over very quickly to the family, and then very quickly returned to Sri Lanka where she'll go into re-education camp." Judge Dawson has set no timetable for her return.
If you believe OneNewsNow.com is an important source for Christian news, please consider a small tax-deductible gift for this service.
