A teleconference was held Monday in the case of a 17-year-old girl who ran away from her parents in Ohio after she said her father threatened to kill her based on her religious views.
The main message that Orlando attorney, John Stemberger, who is advocating for Fathima Bary, who is known as Riqua, tried to get across was that the the teen's parents' "radical and dangerous" involvement with a Muslim mosque in their hometown of Columbus, Ohio is creating "clear and present danger" for the girl if she were to return home. He claims the mosque has terrorist ties.
Stemberger said the leaders of the mosque of orchestrating and controlling the girl's father's actions.
"In fact, the reason that he confronted Riqua was because members of the mosque found out she was a Christian on Facebook; they informed the elders of the mosque, and those leaders confronted several times in phone calls and in e-mails, the father, and that's when the father said, 'We have to deal with this immediately,'" Stemberger said.
Fathima Bary converted to Christianity and said her Muslim father threatened to kill her for dishonoring the family. Her father is on the defense, while the Islamic Society of Central Florida said its faith doesn't condone murder and wonders if the religious runaway is nothing more than a troubled teen. Fathima has been in foster care since earlier this month.
Mohamed Bary, the teen's father, said he denies he ever threatened to kill his daughter for turning her back on the family's Muslim faith by becoming a Christian. He said he believes she fled to Florida last month after being brainwashed by the pastor of Global Revolution Church of Orlando, who she met on Facebook.
"This is a cult group who kidnapped my daughter and took her away," Mohamed Bary said.
Two documents were also filed Monday: one was a special investigative memo and the other an affidavit on behalf of Fathima.
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