Earlier this week, I wrote a post about Fathima Rifqa Bary, a young Muslim woman from Ohio who converted to Christianity several years ago and recently fled to Florida after becoming convinced that she would be the victim of an honor killing.”
I noted how her case has become a cause célèbre among right-wing groups, who are now trying to incite something of a holy war in order to keep her in Florida and away from her supposedly murderous parents and their terrorist-infested mosque. Today, Rifqa is scheduled to appear before a judge who will decide her fate and the Right is going into overdrive and trotting out the big guns like Frank “Obama is a Secret Muslim” Gaffney:
On Monday afternoon, Orlando attorney John Stemberger said that the primary issue in the case is the clear and present danger that is presented by the Noor Islamic Cultural Center and its ties to terrorist activity. He went on to say Rifqa’s affidavit indicates her parents were regularly involved with that mosque. “We believe that the facts are there that support the allegation that this mosque has ties to terrorist activity,” stated attorney John Stemberger.
Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC, believes the Christian teen would be in great danger if forced to return to Ohio.
“Whether her family is, as she fears, determined to engage in an honor killing, or whether the Noor Islamic Cultural Center to which her family has been going for some time — maybe they will take it into their hands to act on the dictates of Sharia,” he contends. “Or perhaps alternatively this girl is simply packed off to Sri Lanka where she came from and she meets a very ugly end there.”
It remains to be seen what the judge will decide, but it’s safe to assume that if Rifqa is sent back to her parents in Ohio (and local authorities say there is “no reason to believe” that she would not be safe if she is,) the Right will immediately seize upon the decision as further evidence of some sort of “anti-Christian bias” and turn Bary into a martyr for the movement.
