She drew international attention in 2009, when she ran away from her home in Ohio under the threat of an honor killing by her family due to her conversion to Christianity from Islam.
[1] As she fled to Florida and sought refuge with a family of evangelical Protestants,[2] her story was widely broadcast on television and discussed on political blogs,[3] eventually becoming a focal point in a religious clash between Christians and Muslims in the United States.
[5] 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 when Rilvan threw a toy airplane at her when she was 5.
Her attorney, John Stemberger, who is the leader of a Christian advocacy group,[10] claimed that the Bary family were members of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center (NICC), near Columbus.
[11] 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.
[14] 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.
[23] A report commissioned by the Department of Justice under the Obama administration determined that honor killings are a credible threat for some young Muslim women who become "too Westernized.
The court appointed attorneys for her parents: private practitioner Craig McCarthy for the mother, and a lawyer from the state Florida Regional Council for the father.
[31] 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.
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.
[35] 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.
[36] 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.
[40] On March 2, 2010, Judge 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.
[44] After three surgeries and 45 weeks of chemotherapy, Bary stopped her cancer treatments after attending a faith healing event in Youngstown, Ohio without her parents permission.
"[51] 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.
At the same time, the parents' Ohio attorney, Omar Tarazi, indicated that the 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.
[64] Harry Coverston, a religious studies professor and Episcopal priest, suggested that the protestors "need a designated other that will be seen in terms that are demonic and fierce and threatening.