August 27, 2009
The plight of an Ohio teen who fled her Muslim family for fear that her father would kill her for becoming a Christian should be a wake up call to those folks with the naïve "Coexist" bumper stickers.
In fact, it should be a smack upside the head to those who insist America's liberties are unrelated to our heritage as a Christian nation.
Rifqa Bary, 17, who took a bus to Orlando in late July, is awaiting a Sept. 3 custody hearing that might send her back to her family, or to Sri Lanka, either of which she says would be a death sentence. In some Muslim circles, the penalty for leaving the faith or dallying with the wrong man is an "honor killing."
The girl took shelter with a pastor and his wife and was then moved to a foster home. She is being represented by an attorney working through the public defender's office. On Aug. 21, a Florida judge ordered that the girl could stay in Florida until Florida officials investigate whether returning her to Ohio would endanger her. The cops report that the dad, Mohamed Bary, who came down from Ohio, seems to be a good guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. Maybe he wouldn't.
Before we go further, let's be clear what this case is not about. It's not about parental rights, which pro-family groups like Coral Ridge Ministries strongly support. Parental rights is about protecting minor children. Parents should be notified about medical procedures and abortions because these threaten the health and well-being of minors. Abortion takes the life of a child, and can cause physical and emotional harm to a young woman struggling with the decision. Only the most perverse logic would attempt to apply the subject to parents who might want to kill their child; there is no parental right to "honor killing."
Some might dismiss Rifqa's claim as a teen exaggerating to justify a rash act, which may still be the case. But her situation must be weighed carefully in light of what has happened to other young women.
In July 2008, a Pakistani man living near Atlanta was charged with beating his 25-year-old daughter to death for declining to go along with an arranged marriage to a cousin twice her age.
In Irving, Texas, on New Year's Day 2008, Amina Said, 18, and her sister Sarah, 17, were shot to death by their father for having unsanctioned boyfriends.
In Canada, where hate speech laws are strangling public discussion of any unpleasant aspects of militant Islam, certain segments of the growing Muslim population are applying Sharia law to wayward females. About a dozen cases have arisen, according to Amin Muhammad, a professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland. A much-cited 2001 stat from the United Nations Population Fund estimates the worldwide number of "honor killings" at 5,000 annually.
In Kingston, Ontario, the Shafia sisters — Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, — were found dead in a submerged car on June 30, 2009, with their father's first wife, Rona Mohammed, 50. The sisters' parents and 18-year-old brother have been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in what police suspect is an honor killing.
In May, an Ottawa jury convicted an Indian native born to Afghan parents of gunning down his 20-year-old sister and her fiancé in 2006 because the couple had moved in together before their wedding.
On Dec. 10, 2007, Aqsa Parvez, a 16-year-old Ontario girl who fought with her parents over not wearing a hajib, was stabbed to death by her father in an honor killing while her mother held her down.
In St. John's, Newfoundland, a 14-year-old girl who had been a rape victim was strangled in 2004 by her father and brother in order to restore the family's honor.
