Judge orders DCF to release Rifqa Bary

An Orlando judge has ordered the Florida Department of Children and Families to transfer custody of Rifqa Bary to Ohio authorities. The Ohio teenager ran away from her Muslim parents to live with a Christian family in Florida because she had converted to Christianity and feared that her Muslim father would harm or kill her because of her religious conversion.

The Florida Department of Children and Families says they received a court order from Judge Daniel Dawson, of the 9th Judicial Circuit in Orlando, Friday afternoon ordering DCF to relinquish its emergency jurisdiction and arrange for Rifqa Bary to be transported to the proper authorities with Franklin County Children Services in Ohio.

On Thursday the Florida Department of Law Enforcement released a transcript and audio file of an interview agents conducted with Rifqa Bary on August 24, 2009.

During the interview with FDLE investigators, Rifqa said she grew up with a fear of her father. When an agent asked Rifqa what made her so afraid, she replied, "He beat me."
The girl said she chose Florida "because it was the farthest away from Ohio, not to mention I knew of a couple of other people here."

Rifqa said John Law, a member of the Lorenzes' church, bought her bus ticket. She met Law and his wife through Facebook, she said, and she used "Anna Michelle" as an alias to pick up the ticket.

Rifqa said she hadn't known the Laws for long before she came to Florida. She said she talked to Law's wife before she came to Florida and said she needed help.

"Let me be honest," Rifqa said, "No one really wanted to take me in."

Rifqa said the plan was for her to stay with the Lorenzes because they knew people who could help figure out what her options were. Rifqa ended up staying with the Lorenz family for more than two weeks before being placed in state foster care.
In her interview with the FDLE agents, Rifqa said the time she lived with the Lorenz family in their Orlando home was "the best weeks of my life."

Rifqa said that her parents had an arranged marriage, and she was also supposed to have an arranged marriage with someone from Sri Lanka.

During one part of the interview, Rifqa said she was "really blessed." "I'm here breathing," she said.
But soon after, Rifqa said she was scared about what would happen to her.