It’s enough. Rifqa Bary has suffered enough. Leave her be.
Tomorrow, Sept. 3, is another hearing for Rifqa Bary, the girl who converted from Islam to Christianity and fled from her family after her father threatened her life. Let’s review the case for Rifqa.
Rifqa converted to Christianity in secret four years ago while living in a devout Muslim household. Knowing what we know about honor killings and apostasy, there is real danger for the welfare of this child. Are we going to throw the dice with a child’s life?
If Rifqa had converted and her parents were “cool with it” as they claim, why would she run thousands of miles? Why would she implore strangers to take her in? Why run? Why is she terrified? She has refused to see her parents while she is under foster care, and while she did want to see her siblings, her parents allegedly did not comply and she has not seen her younger brother.
Why was Rifqa forced to lie about her eye? She did not have an accident. Her brother threw something at her.
Why did her parents lie about their “indigent” status? Rifqa’s parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, signed affidavits declaring themselves indigent, so a Florida court gave them lawyers (paid for with your tax dollars) for her custody hearing and subsequent hearings. Indigent? Mohamed Bary recently reported annual income of $237,561 for his business, Bary Gems.
Despite that, he dissolved Bary Gems just as Rifqa fled from her home in fear for her life. Why? The Barys were still renting two homes, owned two businesses and traveled a lot up until the very end of last month. And why have the Barys concocted a farfetched story about an airline losing $400,000 in gems in checked baggage? Why have they hired a whole new legal team? Who is paying for it?
According to one family law attorney who reviewed the court documents, Rifqa suffered years of psychological and physical abuse. Many times punishment was meted out by her brother. Compare: Alexander Grey, 14, was removed from his mother’s care because he was overweight and the South Carolina authorities blamed the mother, because she was not preparing healthy food. Further, the mom, Jerry Grey, has been charged with neglect (and put in jail) for allowing her son to reach a dangerous weight.
Why did Rifqa’s parents choose a radical mosque a half an hour from their home when there were at least three that were closer? Why would Mohamed Bary force Rifqa to attend the “Halaqah” Noor Islamic Cultural Center youth gatherings, which lasted about five hours?
Rifqa said, “My father was very intent on making sure that his children, and especially me, were raised deeply in the faith of ‘original Islam,’ which was taught at the Noor Center.”
Patrick Poole has photograph reports of Salah Sultan of the Noor Center “hamming it up with [Sheikh Yusuf] Qaradawi . . . and Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood leader Faisal al-Malawi . . . Sultan serves on the board for two of Qaradawi’s organizations along with al-Malawi, the International Association of Muslim Scholars and the European Council for Fatwa and Research. Qaradawi and Malawi are both banned from the United States for their open support of Hamas and other terrorist organizations, as well as for issuing fatwas allowing for suicide bombings against civilians. In 2004, Qaradawi, Malawi, and Sultan issued a fatwa calling for jihad against American troops in Iraq.”
Rifqa cannot be returned to this town in Ohio where the local Islamic leaders associate with the likes of a jihadist Islamic supremacist sheikh like Qaradawi, who has, on top of everything else, called for genocide of the Jews. Yet the Noor claimed Wednesday that “hate groups appear to be using this family matter as an opportunity to attack the Muslim community and Islamic organizations in order to further their religious and political goals.”
Hate groups? Who exactly is shaking hands with someone calling for genocide? Rifqa’s defenders have no religious or political goals, but certainly Shariah does. Islamic law does.
This girl has been abused enough. Rifqa told her story to as many as 20 adults before she fled. No one would listen. When she was brought into custody in Florida, this tiny bit of a thing was shackled at the ankle and waist and incarcerated with the juvenile criminals. Shame on the authorities.
Many people ask, if her father was devout, how come she was a cheerleader? Muslim girls who live in the West lead two lives. Just as Amina and Sarah Said were honor students, star athletes, soccer players, tennis players, etc., so was Rifqa. Amina and Sarah did it all. But their lives at home are a polar opposite of the outside life. There is a constant struggle. The murder always happens when the parent/family sees they have lost control of the child. In the case of Amina and Sarah, the girls ran away. The mother lured them back, and they were both dead less than 24 hours later. Aqsa Parvez had left the house and was staying with friends when she too was lured back, only to be murdered.
Most of the girls who are honor murdered in the West suffer abuse unknown to law enforcement authorities. But the friends know. Teachers know. Amina and Sarah told teachers, friends, etc. So did Rifqa . . . for years. I broke many stories in the Rifqa Bary case on the physical abuse of Rifqa and the parents’ financial situation at AtlasShrugs.com. No media picked them up. The media only ran the CAIR narrative (they are working with the family, according to anti-Rifqa, pro Islam Web sites).
On several occasions friends of Rifqa would bring her down to the school counselor because of bruises on her legs and her arms, beatings suffered at the hands of her father and brother. The middle school, in a serious dereliction of duty, did not report these beatings to child welfare services. Beatings were random, violent, unprovoked.
Rifqa herself said: “He took that laptop and waved it in the air and he was about to beat me with it, and he said, ‘If you have this Jesus in your heart, you’re dead to me. You’re not my daughter.’ And I refused to speak but he said, ‘I will kill you. Tell me the truth.’ In these words, bad words, cuss words. So I knew that I had to get away.”
That said, Rifqa Bary faces death. We have seen these “honor” murders spiking in the West, partly because the West refuses to acknowledge the motivation behind these heinous crimes. Despite societal denial, these crimes are taking place. Why wouldn’t the welfare of this child be the only consideration before the court?
Further, what is being done to secure Rifqa’s safety? She is, hands down, the highest value target in America. She needs 24-hour protection. I hope a petition to the court is being made for such protection.
Meanwhile, tomorrow she will be again fighting for her life.
Contact Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida DCF to ask the court to keep her in Florida state custody. Here’s the contact info:
Crist’s office:
Phone: (850) 488-4441, (850) 488-7146
Fax: (850) 487-0801
Email: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Florida Department of Children and Family:
George H. Sheldon, Secretary
1317 Winewood Blvd.
Building 1, Room 202
Tallahassee, Florida
Phone: (850) 487-1111
Fax: (850) 922-2993
Pamela Geller is the editor and publisher of the Atlas Shrugs Web site and former associate publisher of the New York Observer. Her Op-Eds have appeared in the Washington Times, Newsmax, Human Events, WorldNetDaily, the American Thinker, Israel National News, and other publications.
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