Sri Lankan Teen Fears for Life

A Sri Lankan teenager has told a US court she fears for her life after converting from her family’s faith to Christianity. The girl is now in the custody of the US Department of Children And Families, a US TV network reported.

The girl, 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, who ran away to Florida fearing for her life because she converted from Islam to Christianity, has been ordered into state custody. The teenager, who is not a U.S. citizen, said she fears her family would hurt her, kill her or send her back to her native Sri Lanka. Her parents live in Franklin County, Ohio.

She was vanished nearly three weeks ago. She was last seen on July 19. The teenager's cell phone has been turned off and her Facebook account deactivated. The teenager took a bus from her hometown to Orlando. She has been staying with a family she met through a Christian prayer group on Facebook.

"She says her life is in danger and she could be killed in an honor killing," Rosa Gonzalez, the teen's lawyer, said after a hearing at an Orlando courtroom, Monday. "Unfortunately it happens every day in the U.S." An Orlando judge on Monday ordered the 17-year-old teen into the custody of the Department of Children and Families until another hearing next week.