13-year-old Christian girl fights in court to escape custody of Muslim abductor: 'Serious injustice'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, is fighting in court to escape the 30-year-old Muslim man who abducted her from her home in 2025. | Courtesy Alliance Defending Freedom

A 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl is fighting in court to reunite with her family after a judge returned her to the custody of the 30-year-old Muslim man who abducted her last year.

Maria Shahbaz was kidnapped from her Christian home in July 2025 by Shehryar Ahmad, who married her against her will and forced her to convert to Islam. Shahbaz has since been "exposed to grave abuse and exploitation," according to a press release from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit legal advocacy group.

An earlier investigation found that she was a minor and that her marriage documents were forged. Even so, Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court reportedly did not confirm her age before ruling in February that she should remain in Ahmad's custody. The ruling contradicts Pakistani law, which does not allow minors to consent to marriage or religious conversion.

As Shahbaz awaits another court hearing, local lawyer Lazar Allah Rakha said the Pakistani judiciary has a chance to correct a grave error.

"The court that is due to hear this case has an opportunity to correct a serious injustice. Maria is a child. She was abducted, her documents were found to be forged, and the court handed her back to the man who took her — without even confirming her age. That cannot be allowed to stand," Rakha said.

"This is not just about Maria, though Maria's situation is urgent and she must be brought home. This ruling, if it stands, will further erode the confidence of the minority communities in the justice system. This review petition is an opportunity for the court to relook at their previous order and implement the law," he added.

Despite heated debate among lawmakers, Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, passed updated legislation this year to reinforce the minimum marriage age of 18 and require courts to prioritize the best interests of the child in such cases. The bill replaced provisions of Punjab's Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, which allowed girls to marry at 16 and boys at 18.

The change came as international bodies — including United Nations experts, members of the European Parliament and U.K. lawmakers — have repeatedly raised concerns about forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan, where more than 1,000 underage girls are reportedly subjected to these practices each year.

Parents in California Are About to Lose Their Kids Under New Law | Erin ...

Mom Says 6-Year-Old Son Is Transgender. Dad Disagrees. Now He Might Lose His Son.

 

OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images

ByAmanda Prestigiacomo
@amandapresto
November 27, 2018



A Texas father is fighting for his son in court after pushing back on his ex-wife's claim that their six-year-old is a transgender girl.

According to court documents, the young boy only dresses as a girl when he's with his mother, who has enrolled him in first-grade as a female named "Luna." The father, however, contends that his son consistently chooses to wear boy's clothes, "violently refuses to wear girl’s clothes at my home," and identifies as a boy when he is with him.


The Federalist reports that the mother has accused the father of child abuse in their divorce proceedings "for not affirming James as transgender" and is looking to strip the dad of his parental rights. "She is also seeking to require him to pay for the child’s visits to a transgender-affirming therapist and transgender medical alterations, which may include hormonal sterilization starting at age eight," the report adds.

The father has been legally barred from speaking to his child about sexuality and gender from a scientific or religious perspective and from dressing his son in boys' clothes; instead, he has to offer both girls' and boys' outfits. The boy consistently refuses to wear dresses, according to the father.

The boy was diagnosed with gender dysphoria by a gender transition therapist the mother, a pediatrician, chose for her son to see. According to the therapist's notes, the boy chose to identify as a girl when he was in sessions alone with his mother; alternatively, he chose to identify as a boy when he was in sessions alone with his father. The Federalist reports:

[A] dossier filed with the Dallas court says that, under the skilled eyes of the therapist, the child was presented two pieces of paper, one with the word “James” and one with the word “Luna,” and asked to pick the name he preferred. When the appointment only included his mother, James selected Luna, the name and gender he uses at his mother’s home and in his first-grade classroom. When the appointment was only with his father, however, James pointed to the boy name James, not the girl name.

Fla. Supreme Court settles lesbian custody battle

Florida Supreme Court circa 2012 Photo (Courtesy) http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/justices/index.shtml

COURTS


Related Content
Read the ruling at Steve Rothaus' Gay South Florida


By Brendan Farrington
Associated Press


TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a woman who donated an egg to her lesbian partner has parental rights to the child and ordered a lower court to work out custody, child support and visitation arrangements.

The case involves two women, identified only by their initials, who had a child together. One donated an egg that was fertilized and implanted in the other, who gave birth in 2004.

But two years later the Brevard County couple split up, and the birth mother took the girl and left the country. The other woman, who identifies herself as the biological mother, used a private detective to find her former partner in Australia, and a custody fight ensued.

The birth mother tried to use a Florida law that prevents sperm or egg donors from claiming parental rights to children born to other couples. Her lawyer also cited a standard form donors are required to sign relinquishing parental rights. The court rejected both arguments, saying the law doesn’t apply in this case because the couple clearly planned to parent the child together.

The court wrote that the case didn’t have to be an "all-or-nothing decision" on which parent had rights to the child.

"The couple’s actions before and after the child’s birth — including their use of funds from their joint bank account, their statements to the reproductive doctor that they intended to raise the child as a couple, the counseling they underwent to prepare themselves for parenthood, the use of a hyphenated last name for the child, and the joint birth announcement — reveal that the couple’s agreement in actuality was to both parent the child," the court wrote.

The decision doesn’t throw out the Florida law and it can still be applied in cases where anonymous donors provide sperm or eggs to couples.

"If you were a sperm donor, would this help you get parental rights? No, it wouldn’t," said Elizabeth Schwartz, a Miami Beach attorney who specializes in family law and who advocates for gay and lesbian issues. "They really looked at what was intended ... The law wasn’t thrown out, it was just thoughtfully applied."

The biological mother cried when she heard the news, said lawyer Robert Segal, who represents the woman. She has not seen her daughter in six years. The girl will be 10 in January and now is in Florida, but the birth mother has not been cooperative in providing details about her life, Segal said.

"The case represents a recognition of the fundamental right a parent has to parent their child, regardless of that parent’s sexual orientation or the manner by which the child is conceived," said Christopher Carlyle, a lawyer who assisted on the biological mother’s appeal. "You had a unique situation where there was no intent of our client to donate this biological material and then be out of the picture. They obviously intended to raise the child together."

The lawyer for the birth mother didn’t immediately return a phone message left at his office.

A trial judge ruled for the birth mother and said the biological mother has no parental rights under state law, adding that he hoped his decision would be overturned.

The 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach sided with the biological mother and said both women have parental rights.

"It would indeed be anomalous if, under Florida law, an unwed biological father would have more constitutionally protected rights to parent a child after a one night stand than an unwed biological mother who, with a committed partner and as part of a loving relationship, planned for the birth of a child and remains committed to supporting and raising her own daughter," the court wrote.

Schwartz said that if not for the fact that the biological mother donated her egg, the case might have turned out differently. If the birth mother had one of her own eggs fertilized, her partner might not have won parental rights.

"What would be great is if a case like this could then lead to the next case, which would be respecting the intentions to co-parent of a couple even when there is not that biological connection and gestational connection," Schwartz said. "I think there’s lots of language here that gets us closer to it."



Follow Brendan Farrington on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bsfarrington


Source

.

.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/07/3737584/fla-supreme-court-settles-lesbian.html#storylink=cpy

Baptism battle over boy ends

Estranged wife agrees that her husband can baptize their son Catholic, and he agrees she can attend and choose her son's godmother

Attorney Jenet Pequeno, from left, client Victor Sarmiento and attorney Jeffery Leving leave court Thursday in Chicago's Daley Center. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune / September 8, 2010)


By Alejandra Cancino, Tribune reporter

6:56 p.m. CDT, September 9, 2010


Victor Sarmiento sat quietly in the back of a court room Thursday at the Daley Center as his estranged wife signed a custody agreement that would allow him to baptize his son in the Roman Catholic Church.

It was the culmination of a two-year custody battle that has drained the spirit — and wallet — of both parents. The latest delay in the custody fight came earlier this year, Lizette Perez said, when her estranged husband decided he wanted to baptize their 3-year-old boy.

Perez, a Seventh-day Adventist, said she was not opposed to the baptism; she just wanted to be part of it, "just as I would like to be there for all the important events in his life." She also wanted to choose the godparents because they play a key role in the child's religious upbringing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She said Sarmiento initially denied both requests, and it took the better part of the last six months to change his mind. She can attend the baptism. The other issues were settled in two sentences of the eight-page document: "Each parent agrees to allow the child to be baptized in their respective religions. Victor agrees that Lizette will name the child's godmother."

Sarmiento, who admits he's not always been very religious, said he started thinking about baptizing his son after the child of a close friend died. His friend regretted not baptizing his child, and Sarmiento started wondering if he should do it.

"If something happens to my child and he dies, I don't want that to be the first time he sees God," Sarmiento said.

He said he doesn't have a date for the baptism yet, but he's happy he can start planning.

The agreement also gives Perez sole custody of the boy, but Sarmiento will have time with his child each week. Their divorce proceedings continue.

Sarmiento's lawyers said the agreement represents more than a battle between two estranged parties. In their eyes, it is an issue of constitutional rights.

"It's about parents (who) want religious freedom," said Jeffery Leving, Sarmiento's attorney.

mcancino@tribune.com

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-baptism-lawsuit-20100909,0,524424.story

.

Runaway Christian Convert Allowed to Live Apart from Parents

SocietyWed, Jan. 20 2010 11:44 PM EDT
By Aaron J. LeichmanChristian Post Reporter

A teenage girl from Ohio who ran away from home after she became Christian can remain free from her Muslim parents, according to the terms of a court settlement.

Though Rifqa Bary’s parents have been fighting to regain custody of her since last August, under the agreement Tuesday, the 17-year-old teen can stay in a foster home under state custody in Columbus until she turns 18. After legally becoming an adult in August, Bary will be free to live where she chooses.

In a statement read in the Franklin County Juvenile Court, Bary’s attorney reported that the girl and her parents – who emigrated from Sri Lanka – love and respect each other and will try to resolve their differences through counseling.

Since last August, Bary has been involved in a legal battle with her parents, claiming that her father had said, "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!" and also added some time later, "I will kill you!"

Bary’s father, Mohamed Bary, however, has vehemently denied ever threatening to kill his daughter for converting to Christianity and accuses the pastors she stayed with in Florida of “brainwashing” his daughter into believing she was in danger of an "honor killing."

Last July, Bary ran away from her home near Columbus by boarding a Greyhound bus and heading to Orlando, where she was taken in by an evangelical pastor couple in Orlando that she met through a Facebook prayer group.

Bary stayed with the pastors for two weeks until Florida authorities discovered her parents had filed her as missing.

She has since been living in foster homes – first in Florida and later in Ohio, where judges from both states eventually agreed jurisdiction in the custody case belonged.

The pastors who sheltered her, meanwhile, have denied having knowingly broke the law by hiding the Muslim-turned-Christian girl from Ohio.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which completed investigation into the Lorenzes’ role in Bar’s case, has yet to come to a decision on whether they will be charged with any wrongdoing.

..

Source:http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100120/runaway-christian-convert-free-parents-judge-rules/index.html

.

P.S. Thank God Almighty that in spite of all the insanity we see all around us there still remains some wisdom in the courts of Ohio.

Justice has been served.

God has truly blessed Rifqa.

.

Court issues reunification plan in Rifqa Bary case

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 12/2/2009 7:00:00 AM

A best-selling author and critic of Islam is skeptical about a plan issued to reunite runaway Christian convert Rifqa Bary with her Muslim family.

The proposal was filed Monday in Franklin County Juvenile Court in Columbus, Ohio, by a government caseworker. It says 17-year-old Rifqa Bary needs to hear her parents' explanation of their religious beliefs and that the parents must listen to the girl's explanation of her Christian faith so that both sides can better understand Bary's summer runaway to Florida.

Bary has said she feared her father would harm or kill her for converting from Islam. Her father has denied this claim, but the reunification plan leaves open the possibility that the girl may not be forced to return home. Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, concurs.

"She shouldn't return home -- and if it were any other situation, there would be no possibility of her returning home," he argues. "If she were a Christian girl who had fled from her family and converted to Islam, nobody would be talking about her going home. Islam has this powerful deception machine in the United States."

Even considering the 17-year-old's claim, Spencer is fearful that authorities will choose to believe her father.

"It's inconceivable that the father is going to say, 'Well, in Islam, we have to kill the apostate, and thus we'll have to kill you.' He's not going to say that in front of the caseworker," states the critic of Islam. Spencer predicts Rifqa's father will "be all sweetness and love and then she'll be returned home," and because of that, he believes the teenage girl is now "in graver danger than ever."

.

.

Source: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=793268

.

Runaway teen Christian convert returned to Ohio

October 27, 2009 -- Updated 1907 GMT (0307 HKT)

Rifqa Bary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, has been returned to her family in Ohio.

(CNN) -- A runaway teen who said her father threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity has been returned from Florida to Ohio, but not yet to her family, her mother's lawyer said Tuesday.

Rifqa Bary, 17, is in the custody of Franklin County Children Services while other issues in the case are settled, attorney Roger Weeden said.

"We're very happy that Rifqa is back where she should be, close to her parents," Weeden said. "The allegations of abuse and neglect were unfounded. Now some unification can begin."

A Florida judge ruled earlier this month in favor of her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, who had requested that their daughter be transferred to Ohio.

The teen's attorney, John Stemberger, who leads a Christian advocacy organization, opposed the move.

The teen left her family in Columbus, Ohio, in July and took refuge in the home of a minister in Orlando, Florida. She was later moved into foster care after she said in an affidavit that her Muslim father had threatened her after finding out about her conversion. Her father has denied the allegation.

Judge Daniel Dawson, in his October 13 decision, said it was in Bary's best interest for her emergency custody case to continue in Ohio.

The transfer was delayed until the teen's immigration status was determined. Attorneys for the parents, who are from Sri Lanka, sent her immigration documents to the court within two weeks.

Her return to Ohio comes after months of legal wrangling, including the affidavit from the teenager claiming that her father was pressured by the family's mosque in Ohio to "deal with the situation," referring to her conversion.

In an earlier court filing, Rifqa Bary alleged that her father said, "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me." The teenager claims her father added, "I will kill you."

Mohamed Bary, 47, has denied the accusations.

"We wouldn't do her harm," he said, saying he knew his daughter was involved with Christian organizations.

"I have no problem with her practicing any faith," Bary said, but acknowledged that he prefers that she practice Islam.

A report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement says, "Our investigation has provided no clear evidence of criminal activity."

During a Florida court hearing, the teen periodically read a Bible, as did many of her supporters who filled the courtroom.

The supporters said they were disappointed by the ruling, but believe Jesus is with Bary no matter where she goes.

CNN's John Couwels contributed to this report.

.

Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/10/27/muslim.convert/

.

Related:

.

Bary, 17, will also have her phone and Internet use supervised by the Franklin County Children Service Agency, under a judge's order issued earlier Tuesday.

.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/27/national/a075342D76.DTL&type=business#ixzz0VBVQrKPm

.

See all stories on this topic

.

Florida Investigation Finds No Credible Threat to Teen Christian Convert

FNC
Rifqa Bary, a Christian convert whose parents are Muslim immigrants from Sri Lanka, says she fears for her life.

.

.

Florida authorities' investigation into a teenager's claims that her life is in danger for converting from Islam to Christianity found no credible threats to 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, according to a newly unsealed report.

The 7-page summary of the probe into the Bary case by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was unsealed on Monday.

" . . . FDLE's inquiry to date has failed to reveal any evidence of a conspiracy to commit, solicitation to commit, attempt or other efforts to commit any such action or other violence against her," the report said.

The high school student is in foster care in Orlando after fleeing to Florida from her home in Ohio because, she said, she feared being killed by her family for switching religions.

Rifqa ran away from her parents' house in suburban Columbus in July after her parents, Sri Lankan immigrants Mohamed and Aysha Bary, learned she had been baptized without telling them.

She has said she is afraid of becoming the victim of an "honor killing" if she stays with her father and mother. Her parents have said they have no intention of harming their daughter.

The girl fled to the home of the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution Church — whom she befriended on Facebook. Her father says he believes Rifqa has been brainwashed by fundamentalist Christians.

The latest findings don't negate the case or mean that Rifqa is going home. A judge still is deciding whether to return the girl to Ohio. Another hearing is set for Sept. 29.

The report synopsis includes interviews with Bary's father, who she said threatened her; officials from her school in Ohio and the person who baptized her and helped her travel to Florida, Brian Williams.

Members of the Islamic community in Columbus and the mosque the Bary family sometimes attends were not part of the investigation — only local state and federal officials in both Ohio and in Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Rifqa's attorney previously characterized that mosque as a hotbed for terrorists. The FDLE report said investigating a person or organization without "specific identifiable criminal predicate" would have been inappropriate, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

Related StoriesRunaway Christian Convert to Stay in Florida for Now, Judge Rules
Among Rifqa's allegations investigated were her claim that her father punched her while they were in the car because she had been embarrassed to wear a hijab, or Muslim headscarf. Her father says that never happened.

The FDLE said it didn't investigate that or other specific incidents involving claims of physical or sexual abuse because they would have happened in Ohio, outside their jurisdiction, according to WDBO. Ohio authorities told those in Florida they had no reports of abuse.

.

.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,550442,00.html

.

.