A complaint filed in Franklin County Juvenile Court on behalf of Mohamed and Aysha Bary accuses their 17-year-old daughter, Fathima Rifqa, of being incorrigible.
The girl left her parents’ Northeast Side home on July 19 and took a bus to Orlando, Fla., saying her father will kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity.
She’s now in foster care in Florida, where the 9th Judicial Circuit Court is to determine whether she should stay there or be returned to her parents.
Circuit Judge Daniel P. Dawson determined that he had jurisdiction because no case had been filed in Ohio.
The document filed Tuesday in Franklin County says Rifqa is “habitually disobedient,” comes and goes as she pleases, defies her parents and their rules, and is truant at home and school. Ohio attorneys for the Barys wouldn’t comment on the filing.
In separate news, an investigative report about Rifqa’s safety completed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was to be made public soon, but Rifqa’s attorney, John Stemberger, filed a motion to keep it sealed. The other parties in the case have until Monday to respond to his request, said Shayan Elahi, Mohamed Bary’s Florida attorney.