Rifqa betrayed?Rifqa Bary is the young Muslim girl from Ohio who converted to Christianity and subsequently fled her home after her father allegedly threatened to kill her for apostasy. The legal team representing her made a comprehensive case that Bary would be under threat from the local Muslim community, which is highly radicalised, if she was sent back to Ohio.
But, in the face of all human decency and compassion, it has happened anyway. Bary will initially live in a foster home, but a potential move home is possible. If that happens, we will sooner or later find out how much danger the girl is in.
Also of note is the fact that "Magistrate Mary Goodrich did order Children Services to monitor Rifqa's phone and Internet use after Jim Zorn, a Children Services attorney, asked for the restrictions." This was a tacit acceptance of the entirely unproven allegations by Rifqa's father - which were even taken up by pundits on the "right wing" Fox News shortly after the story first broke - that Rifqa has been "brainwashed" by a shady cult into converting to Christianity, and even into deliberately fabricating the claim that her father threatened to kill her. This spurious charge completely ignores conclusive evidence that Rifqa Bary had clandestinely converted to Christianity long before she had even met the Christian pastors who supposedly "brainwashed" her. It also ignores the evidence of the Islamic radicalism - including open support for the death penalty for apostates - among Muslims in Rifqa's home town. This evidence was provided by Rifqa's legal team, and was corroborated on a national scale in separate research by counter-terrorism investigator Dave Gaubatz.
The authorities are playing a potentially lethal game with Rifqa Bary. I am not a believer in any religion, but I will be praying that this young girl, whose only crime was to have freedom of conscience, is kept safe from harm.
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