Posted: 08/11/2010 at 3:29pm | IP Logged

Case Ends as Rifqa Turns 18, Plans to Preach the Word to All the Nations

Editor's Note:  Rifqa Bary is the Christian teenager who fled her parents' home, in fear of her life after converting from Islam. 

by Meredith Heageny, The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS, OH - The Rifqa Bary drama, which has played out in courts in Florida and Ohio for more than a year, ended quickly and calmly Wednesday morning in Franklin County Juvenile Court.

Today is Rifqa's 18th birthday, and Children Services terminated its custody of her as expected.

Rifqa has decided not to talk to the media immediately, her attorneys said.

"She has suffered so much, and there have been so many traumatic events at this time," attorney Angela Lloyd said. "She's just not ready to make a statement."

But it appears Rifqa has missionary work in mind.

"She looks forward to 'preaching the word to all the nations,' " Lloyd said. "And those are her words."

She's "trying to be Rifqa Bary, the Christian evangelist who's ready to go out and change the world."

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