‘Teen’s plight not an isolated incident’
— PunjabiPower: “This probably happens every day in families who are Muslim or who are from conservative cultures such as South Asia”
— “The plight of the Ohio teen is not an isolated incident or a simple family matter. This is a disregard of the basic human rights experienced by countless teens, men and women of Muslim Faith and conservative cultures such as South Asia and the Middle East.”
— RegardingRifqa Bary – “the only thing that matters is how she feels. If she feels threatened, that’s the end of story…”
Netherlands: Married at thirteen
— Islam in Europe reports: — “In her book Generous Betrayal Prof. Unni Wikan brings several cases where Norwegian authorities let down immigrant girls in need. I recently translated an article from the Norwegian media about children as young as 14 who are being forcibly married off by their parents.”
— Trouw reports:
— “Suat, 18 years old, has already lived an adult’s life. She had been married off, probably when she was 13, maybe when she was 15, it remains unclear if it was in the Netherlands or in her land of origin. The ‘wedding’ started off a life of rape, abuse, shelters and social help. Professionals have been discussing her case for years, and yet it went wrong. Since March, Suat has disappeared without a trace.”
— “New information makes everything even more heart-rending. This case has probably been going on for five years, and the girl was 13 when she ‘married’. This according to a source who wants to remain anonymous, who knew Suat, and knows of details. From the beginning the social workers and others at school discussed her case. They also enlisted other social authorities.”
— “The file, the explanation by the police, and the information of the anonymous source who gave this information, seem difficult to put together. Altuntas is somber. Suat has either been murdered, or she now has a miserable life. Why did she go back to her land of origin, twice even? Altuntas: ‘The Dutch authorities didn’t give her any feeling of security. They had underestimated the danger and Suat felt it.'”
WESH: Religious Runaway To Be Sent To Ohio Foster Home — Rifqa Bary Say She Fled To Orlando To Escape Persecution
— WESH reports: “Rifqa Bary, 17, made national headlines when she fled from her parents’ home because she claimed they planned to kill her for converting to Christianity. Bary posted a video on YouTube calling her parents radical.”
— “A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated Rifqa Bary’s claims and found no evidence she would be a victim of an honor killing if she were returned home. There was also no evidence of assault or abuse.”
WFTV reports:
— “The teenager who ran away from Ohio to Orlando because she feared physical harm for converting from Islam to Christianity has been ordered back to Ohio, but the judge made two conditions.”
— “The Orlando judge said Tuesday afternoon that 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, who had been staying in Orlando, should return to Ohio under the care of the state’s child protective services. The judge, though said, he needs documentation that she can continue the online education she’s getting in Florida and her parents must turn over all immigration documents to the judge to prove she can legally stay in the United States.”
— “The Orlando judge set a hearing for October 23 if the aforementioned conditions have not been met. If they are met before that time, it’s possible Bary could head back to Ohio sooner.”
— “Bary is in foster care in Orlando while her case is being reviewed. The judge says he will turn over the case to an Ohio court in the next few weeks, but no order has been signed yet”
Judge: Rifqa Bary will go back to Ohio
— Orlando Sentinel Reports:
— “Rifqa Bary, the Muslim-to-Christian teen convert who is at the center of a politically charged custody dispute, will go back to Ohio as soon as issues of her immigration and virtual schooling are solved”
— “An Orange Circuit Judge said he will return a teenage runaway from Ohio back to Ohio but only after her immigration status is settled and only after ensuring she can continue her schooling at ‘virtural school’ in Ohio.”
— “At a hearing in Orlando to determine the immediate future for Fathima Rifqa Bary, judge Daniel Dawson asked that her parents — from whom Rifqa ran in July — submit all the paperwork necessary to settle any immigration issues.”
— “The family is from Sri Lanka but lives and works outside Columbus, Ohio.”
— “Krista Bartholomew, Rifqa’s guardian ad litem, said she will provide a list of all documents needed for the immigration status so everyone is clear on what is needed. She said this has been provided before but she will do it again.”
— “Rifqa attended the hearing but used the time in the courtroom to read her Bible.”
— “She has been in Orlando since mid-July when she boarded a Greyhound bus and left Ohio. She arrived in Orlando and took up residence with husband and wife pastors that she met through a prayer group on the Internet social networking site, Facebook.”
— “The 17-year-old said she left her Muslim family because she feared they would harm or kill her because she converted to Christianity.”
— “Her family has said her fears are unfounded.”
— “But the conflict spilled into the courts after the Department of Children and Families became Rifqa’s custodian.”
— “The case is also in court-ordered mediation, but no agreement has come from it, Dawson learned today.”
— “A judge from Ohio said sat in via speaker phone, as did Rifqa’s Ohio attorneys, her parents’ attorney, Ohio media, someone from the Franklin County children services, someone from the prosecutor’s office and a guardian ad litem.”
— “The Ohio judge said told the court that her state should have jurisdiction and wants jurisdiction on the case.”
— “Bartholomew agreed the case should return to Ohio, but John Stemberger, Rifqa’s Florida attorney, objected.”
— “A representative from the children’s services in Ohio said a foster home has been identified for Rifqa in that state.”
Orlando Sentinel reported earlier that:
— “However, it should be a transition to Ohio and she continue to receive services. She would like Rifqa to have a mental examination before she returns to Ohio. She also wants the parents to have a psychological exam, too.”
— “It’s important to determine what services are needed. Rifqa has been seeing a counselor here in Florida, Batholomew said.”
— “Bartholomew also asked that she finish some of her schooling here in Florida.”
— “She wants the parents to follow the orders set up by the Florida court, such as the immigration issue.”
— “The parents have not addressed that issue yet, Bartholomew said. At this point, there is a chance she is in the country illegally.”
— “This could take several weeks, she said.” AP: Another hearing held for runaway convert
— “The judge is holding another hearing Tuesday that will help determine whether 17-year-old Rifqa Bary stays in Orlando or returns to her family who live outside Columbus”
— Il Giornale: “I love an Italian, dad kills me” Moroccan 15 years under cover — 15 year old Moroccan girl threatened
— “Request for help is heartbreaking: “Help me, I do not want to end up like Hina and Sanaa. Said the police in tears of Pavia, just a few hours ago, a fifteen Moroccan escaped from home in Voghera.”
— “And the soldiers have moved immediately. Now the student is in a protected location in Sydney, away from parents by herself accused of having threatened to do the same end of Sanaa. Besides its history, for some months now, is similar to that of two girls, which took the lives of ‘guilty’ only of loving an Italian man and not a Muslim. A script already seen.”
— “Start the harassment. Her father beat her repeatedly and the threat of death: “I’ll make an end to the other …” alluding to the most horrific cases of poor Muslim girls massacred because they were trying to break free from a world of fundamentalist and dull. Beatings and threats that have witnessed without blinking, even sharing the “method of education, whether the mother. The girl tries to cling to what is around him, makes contact with friends including Social Services, as I will explain later also to the police. Anyone away from that family that now beats her and insulted almost every day. Phrase you hear is always angry, “Raki daimen Muslima u-maghribiyya (you are always Muslim and Moroccan). These are your sources, you must not forget, and that is why you can not attend the Italian boys who are not Muslims. Your father feels dishonored. And off blows.”
— “A teenager allegedly murdered by her father in a so-called ‘honour killing’ hated her family and wanted to run away, a court has heard.
— “Tulay Goren, 15, a Kurdish Turk from Woodford Green, north London, vanished in 1999 and her body has never been found, the Old Bailey has been told.”
— “Her boyfriend at the time, Halil Unal, 41, told the jury she said she wanted ‘a man who will love me and marry me'”
— “He recalled the time he met Tulay at Stratford bus station, in east London after she had been beaten.”
— “‘I saw that she had bruising to her eye. She told me that her father tortured her and beat her and that her uncle Cuma was pressuring her.'”
— “Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said Tulay was killed ‘to restore the so-called honour’ of the family, who originate from Turkey.”
— “The court heard Mr Unal was brought up as a Sunni Muslim while the Gorens were from the Alevi branch of the faith.”
— BBC reports: “He added: ‘In our honour customs, they are either going to finish off, kill the girl, or they are going to kill both of them. That is definite.'”
— BBC reports: “The prosecution says Tulay was killed ‘to restore the so-called honour’ of the family, as a relationship between she and Mr Unal – who are from different sects of Islam – ‘would not have been tolerated'”
Women in Alevism — “According to Australian anthropologist Dr. Sevgi Kilic, while Alevi women do not experience gender segregation in the private and public domain they are subject to traditional male values about women’s sexuality and constructed within the honour/shame paradigm”
Jordan: Jail for Jordan ‘honour killing’ — BBC: “A 21-year-old Jordanian man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing his married sister over an alleged affair, court officials said”
— “He was charged with premeditated murder for stabbing his 18-year-old sister 26 times with a kitchen knife last year.”
— “He claimed he wanted to restore his family’s honour.”
Somalia: Islamists Order Women in Bardere Town to Take Veils Quickly
— Shabelle Media Network reports: — “The Islamic administration officials in Bardere town in Gedo region have Thursday ordered the women there in south Somalia to take a veil or else will be taken legal step by the Islamist fighters in the town.”
— “The Islamist administration had ordered all the women in the town to take coverings once again since their announcement which was 15 days ago saying that they will take a right step the women who refuse to take the order of the administration adding that they will also be sentenced with the Sharia law.”
— “Mo’allin Mohumed Osma’il, head of the advice and education for the Islamic administration in Bardere town told Shabelle radio that Thursday was the last day of their ultimatum order with in the 15 days which stated all the women in the town to have veils through the town.
— “The official lastly said that the Islamist forces will conduct operations against the women who have not the coverings through in the town adding that they were completely ordered to arrest the women in the jails of Bardere town in Gedo region in southern Somalia.
