As the Barys' allegedly CAIR-appointed attorney, Omar Tarazi, assembles the prosecution case against Riqfa for her apostasy, folks who might be indicted for helping Rifqa (can you believe this?) are in CYA mode.
The Lorenzes "ignored warnings" not to take Rifqa in? They did the Christian thing, if you ask me. I would have taken Rifqa in. Would you? Would you have "turned her in"? Where do runaways wind up? On the street. He was a pastor. He took in a member of the flock. Now that's a crime, but what CAIR and the Noor mosque are doing, that's OK?
Remember, this article is written by hijabed Heagney, the propaganda tool for CAIR-Ohio. So bear that in mind when you read her cud.
Affidavit: Couple told not to house RifqaWarnings on runaway convert ignored, Florida man saysMeredith himabed Heagney THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHFlorida pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz ignored warnings that they were breaking the law by helping Fathima Rifqa Bary run away from her Ohio home, and also by keeping her at their house in Orlando, according to a former official at their church.
Brian Smith said in an affidavit, and also by telephone yesterday, that he was troubled by the Lorenzes' actions when it came to Rifqa.
Smith said he was church administrator at Global Revolution Church, which the Lorenzes led, when Rifqa ran away in July. She has said her father threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity.
Smith said he picked up Rifqa, now 17, at a bus station upon her arrival in Florida and took her to the Lorenzes' home. Rifqa didn't tell him that her father would kill her but rather that Mohamed Bary had said, "You are dead to me," Smith said.
He asked what that meant, and Rifqa said she was disowned, he said.
In an interview with Florida investigators and on emotional YouTube videos, Rifqa repeatedly has said that her father threatened to kill her. Mr. Bary has denied the accusations, and authorities who investigated did not find credible threats to her safety.
Smith said a lawyer told Mr. Lorenz that he shouldn't help a minor run away from home. Smith said he also consulted with lawyers who said the Lorenzes were breaking the law by keeping Rifqa.
He encouraged Lorenz to call the Florida Department of Children and Families, but Lorenz refused, Smith said, saying that if he did so, Rifqa would be returned to her parents.
Rifqa stayed at the couple's home for more than two weeks before Mr. Lorenz called authorities in August.
In October, she was sent back to Ohio, where she is in foster care while her case is in Franklin County Juvenile Court.
Smith said that he bought a bed for Rifqa in July when Mr. Lorenz asked him to, and helped set it up.
He also said that Beverly Lorenz told Rifqa not to say anything about Brian Williams having driven Rifqa to the Greyhound station in Columbus. Williams is a 20-something evangelical Christian who baptized Rifqa.
Florida authorities said that Williams drove Rifqa to the station; Rifqa had said she hitchhiked.
"My issue with that was strictly this … you're telling a new Christian convert to lie to the authorities when you're questioned," Smith said.
Mr. Lorenz told Smith that he and another church official bought Rifqa's bus ticket under a false name, Smith said.
Smith provided the affidavit to Omar Tarazi, Rifqa's parents' attorney, upon request.
Blake and Beverly Lorenz were fired by the church board in October, Smith said, and took about 60 percent of their 100-member congregation with them to start a new ministry. Smith voluntarily resigned as church administrator, he said, and the congregation has effectively disbanded.
