Wednesday's Orlanda Sentinel is reporting that a Florida judge has ruled that Rifqa Bary will be sent back to Ohio and placed with a foster family so that the question of returning her to her parents can be settled in Ohio. Orange County Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson has, however, refused to move the case to Ohio until the matter of the girl's immigration status is settled. The judge has asked for Rifqa Bary's immigration documents twice, and so far they have not been produced. It is interesting that according to a previous article at Right Wing Granny the Washington Times reported that Refqa's father had sold his business and made plans to return to Sri Lanka as soon as he found out that she had become a Christian.
Jeff Jacoby at the Boston Globe posted an article on August 10, 2008, about honor killings and the fact that they were happening in America. There were a number of cases he cited where fathers or brothers had killed young girls because the girls had refused arranged marriages, dated someone outside the faith, or done something to 'dishonor the family.' Unfortunately, I believe that if Rifqa Bary is sent back to her family, that will be her fate. Either the judge does not understand the Muslim tradition of honor killings for renouncing Islam or he is choosing to ignore it. Hopefully if this case makes it to Ohio, the judge will be more familiar with the underside of the Muslim culture.
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