Following the highly publicized custody battle with her Muslim parents, Christian convert Rifqa Bary is now defending the Florida attorney who helped secure her safety.
As previously reported by OneNewsNow, Islamic attorney Omar Tarazi of Ohio has filed a $10-million defamation of character lawsuit against Orlando attorney John Stemberger, as well as a grievance against him before The Florida Bar. Tarazi had represented the teenage girl's parents as they sought to regain custody of her after she fled her Ohio home in 2009 when her Muslim father threatened her life for not renouncing the conversion.
Now Stemberger says Bary has come to his aid by releasing her first public statement since she turned 18 years old last August."She basically is outlining all the bad things that he did during the course of the case, which have not come out publically," Stemberger accounts. "So it's kind of inside pool on what actually took place. [She is] also thanking me publically for my contribution, pro-bono representation, as well as the other lawyers involved."
Bary's affidavit also refutes several of the allegations Tarazi brought against the Orlando attorney in the bar complaint.
"One of the charges that the bar is making is that I've divulged the confidence of my former client. And Rifqa's saying in the affidavit, 'Look -- I'm the client. I don't have any problems here with him appearing on Fox. I didn't have any problems with what he said at any time.' So it's kind of like what right does an opposing council have to interfere with the attorney-client privilege of my client," he concludes.
The young Christian convert also argued in her statement that Tarazi is the one who should be disciplined -- not Stemberger.
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