Posted: 10/19/2009 at 4:19pm | IP Logged

One expert thinks Riqa may be able to apply for asylum from religious persecution if deportation becomes an issue.

Will Muslim to Christian Teen Convert Be Returned to Sri Lanka from US?

by Aaron Leichman, The Christian Post

ORLANDO, FL - Since August, Riqa Bary has been involved in a legal battle with her parents, who are trying to regain custody of her.  In a court filing, Bary claimed her father had said, "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!" and also added some time later, "I will kill you!"

Rifqa’s father, Mohamed Bary, however, has vehemently denied ever threatening to kill his daughter for converting to Christianity and accuses the pastors she stayed with in Florida of “brainwashing” his daughter into believing she was in danger of an "honor killing."

Though it was decided last week that Bary is under the jurisdiction of Ohio and not Florida, where the case has been heard, Florida circuit Judge Daniel Dawson required the teen's parents to provide documents that prove they are legal residents in the United States. Bary’s temporary guardian raised concern that if the teen is staying illegally in the United States, she could be sent back to Sri Lanka where her family is originally from.

"The reason Rifqa left [home] is that her parents threatened to send her back to Sri Lanka. It's probably the place where she's most at risk for being killed, or harmed or put in an insane asylum," he said.

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