Rifqa Bary controversy

In September 2010 after turning 18, Bary was granted residency in the United States. Rifqa Bary eventually went on to study biology in college and became an evangelist. During her time in college Rifqa was able to go on a mission trip to India. On November 6, 2015 Bary became a legal US Citizen after she turned 23. On July 15, 2015 Rifqa had surgery to receive a prosthetic eye. Rifqa became a writer and signed with WaterBrook Press in 2014. On May 19, 2015 she released her debut book "Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus". Rifqa has since graduated from college with a degree in philosophy. She is now pursuing a career in law.

On July 19, 2009 Rifqa ran away from her family's home to the home of Orlando, Florida Christian pastor Blake Lorenz and his wife, Beverly, with whom Rifqa had communicated on Facebook. Rifqa had told Beverly Lorenz that her parents would kill her for converting to Christianity. Williams drove her to a bus station where a ticket was purchased under an assumed name for her bus ride to Orlando, Florida. Bary lived with the Lorenzes for 10 to 21 days (reports vary) before they contacted child welfare authorities, though Florida law required that they contact authorities within 24 hours of receiving Rifqa into their home. The police were able to locate Rifqa through her cell phone and internet history. Rifqa eventually turned herself into the police and spent two nights in jail until a judge set her free.

On October 13, 2009, Orange County (Florida) Judge Daniel P. Dawson ruled that he would return Bary to Ohio pending a settlement of her immigration status. Emergency custody continued in Ohio.

On October 27, 2009, Bary was returned to Ohio and temporarily placed in the custody of Franklin County Children Services. The public agency was to monitor her internet and phone use and hoped to reunite the family before August 10, 2010, when Bary would turn 18 years old. A case-management plan was filed on December 1, 2009, stating that Bary and her family needed to have face-to-face talks about their understanding of Christianity and Islam as one step toward reunification.

On December 22, 2009, a magistrate of the Franklin county juvenile court denied Bary's parents' request for forced mediation and set the date for the dependency hearing for the end of January. The hearing was canceled on January 19, 2010, when a deal between the parties was reached with Bary becoming a dependent of the State of Ohio in exchange for admitting that she broke the rules when she ran away. On January 29, 2010, once it was learned that Bary would be allowed to contact Reverend Lorenz and his wife, Bary's parents, on the strict advice of their lawyer, requested to back out of the deal. On March 2, 2010, Judge Elizabeth Gill denied their request and ordered them to continue their counseling sessions so that Rifqa could return home to her family before she turned 18. In June 2010, Bary graduated from Focus Learning Academy. That same year, she was diagnosed with a rare form of Uterine cancer. The doctors gave her one year to live. After three surgeries and 45 weeks of chemotherapy, Bary stopped her cancer treatments. Her parents asked the courts to force their daughter to continue receiving chemotherapy, but they refused. Bary has been declared cancer free. On August 10, 2010, Bary turned 18 years old and Franklin County Children Services' custody of her ended. After the gag order was lifted on her hearings, her father and mother stated that Bary had sent them a video two weeks prior, along with candy and music, saying she loved them. They also stated that Bary sent them letters including one where she thanked them for helping her be a successful student. At the same time, the parents' Ohio attorney, Omar Tarazi, indicated that Barys have not had a private face-to-face conversation with their daughter, even in the presence of a family counselor, since she ran away. Omar dropped his lawsuit against Bary's lawyer, but he continued to sue Pamela Geller for defamation until September 21, 2011.

Rifqa Bary is the only daughter of Mohamed and Aysha Bary. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio with her older brother Rilvan and her younger brother Rajaa. Her parents initially came to the U.S. from Sri Lanka to seek medical care for Rifqa after she became blind in her right eye after Rilvan threw a toy airplane at her when she was 5. Prior to moving to Ohio Rifqa was sexually abused by an extended family member. After moving into an apartment in Ohio Rifqa shared a room with her brothers. She and Rilvan attended New Albany High School. At the school Rifqa was a Straight A Student, she took AP classes, she was a cheerleader, and a member of the track and field team. During her spare time she wrote poetry and took guitar lessons. Rifqa worked part time at a Chinese restaurant and would call her parents if she was ten minutes late getting home. Bary's parents have said that they are Muslims and pray five times a day. Her attorney, John Stemberger, who is the leader of a Christian advocacy group, claimed that the Bary family were members of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center (NICC), near Columbus. In an official statement, NICC denied it was familiar with Rifqa Bary or her family and stated that their records showed she attended the cultural center's Sunday School only three times in 2007.

Rifqa became a Christian in 2005 at the age of 13. In July 2009, she was secretly baptized in Big Walnut Creek, at Hoover Dam Park by her mentor and friend Brian Michael Williams, an aspiring pastor and college student while her family was not at home. Rifqa eventually became a member of Columbus Korean United Methodist Church.

Fathima Rifqa Bary (born August 10, 1992 in Galle, Sri Lanka) is a Sri Lankan United States Citizen author who drew international attention in 2009 when she ran away from her Ohio home, at age 16, saying that her Muslim parents were going to kill her for becoming a Christian. Her story was broadcast on TV and discussed on political blogs, becoming a focal point in a culture clash between Evangelical Christians and Muslims.