I had not read about her displaying herself to guys. Before I became a Christian, I also did many unacceptable things. Being a Christian centers you and focuses you on your former bad behavior, and is an epiphany for the sinner. It's a classic conversion. Now maybe she doesn't want to do that anymore.
I've read several statements from this family. None of them make me think they are just going to sit back and not give her trouble about converting. According to another news story her father said she had no business learning about Christianity, she needed to learn her own religion.
I saw an interview of the FL pastor. He seems a temperate and correct man, and went to see a lawyer after the girl showed up on his doorstep. He certainly didn't want to be accused of kidnapping her, but had very serious concerns her fears were real.
She's hired her own lawyer and feels she needs legal representation. She's letting the court system work out the problem. From what her lawyer says, her father's mosque has some Islamist influence. I certainly wouldn't immediately put off what she says as teenage tripe. There's a history of these things happening. And I certainly wouldn't trust what the mother says. I've read too many stories where the woman returned home or whatever because the mother talked her into it, only to be murdered. It's a common scenario, using the mother to lure the child back before she is killed.
If he says he was going to throw a laptop because he was so angry with her, that is worth examining. And if FL doesn't want to force a 17 year old to to go to parents she claims want to kill her without some process, I certainly don't have a problem with that.
It IS going to be examined. By the OHIO courts. There has never been any discussion of sending her straight back to her parents. The decision as to whether her parents regain custody of her will be made by the Ohio courts, and given the normal pace of such proceedings and her age, it’s highly unlikely she’ll ever be sent back to them. That’s not really the end of the story, though, nor should it be. Her parents are Ohio residents, and if they have made serious threats to harm her, the Ohio courts need to deal with THEM, and that entails having Rifqa in Ohio to participate in court proceedings. This family also has a six year old son at home, and if the parents are dangerous enough to warrant legally terminating their custody of their teenage daughter, then the family still needs to be under court/CPS supervision on account of the younger child.
Honestly, I think this girl is a drama queen and is exaggerating a lot of things, and being encouraged to do so by her Christian friends. The pastor who facilitated her running away halfway across the country and then harbored her in his home for 2 weeks without notifying authorities (a crime in Florida, and probably a federal crime as well, since Ohio authorities had a nationwide alert out for her), is hardly a normal, responsible Christian pastor. Per various interviews her parents have given, it sounds quite plausible that what she really feared was that the parents would move the family back to Sri Lanka, because they were upset about their daughter’s overall rebellious behavior.
An interesting article here http://infidelsunite.typepad.com/counter_jihad/2009/09/rifqa-bary-parents-of-us-teen-convert-brace-for-tough-fight.html is based on an interview with her parents. They don’t sound like crazed Muslim extremists. They allowed their daughter to be on the cheerleading squad at a US public high school — just stepping out the front door in one of those outfits would be enough to cause the serious violent-extremist Muslims to kill their daughter on the spot, but these parents allowed her to participate in this activity in public. And an interesting aspect to this story which I haven’t seen any real focus on, is that the family moved to the US to seek treatment for an eye injury that Rifqa sustained at home in Sri Lanka. On the one hand, with the allegations she’s making now, one thinks “Was the injury the result of her father or another male family member attacking her?”. But then you stop and think that a family that would have done that, wouldn’t have picked up and moved the family to the US and sought medical treatment for the girl’s injury here.
It’s all very weird, and I don’t take the parents’ or the daughter’s statements at face value. The girl sounds a bit mentally unstable, and it’s quite possible her parents are too. But the Constitution and federal law are quite clear on how to handle a minor runaway who’s being sought by legal authorities in the state where her parents or legal guardians reside.