--- "Amadou O. Wane" <wane@strategisconsulting.com>
wrote:
> ISLAMIC MOTHER IN CHILD-CUSTODY FIGHT
> HANNAH ALLAM, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 7/10/02
>
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/3631655.htm
>
> Muslims across the nation are protesting a South
> Dakota judge's decision to
> remove a 5-year-old boy from his mother's home,
> saying the custody ruling
> was based on the woman's recent conversion to Islam.
> The Council on
> American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C.,
> questioned the decision in
> a news release Tuesday, although the case has been
> widely discussed on Twin
> Cities Muslim e-mail groups and online forums for
> about two weeks.
>
> Muslims claim the judge in sparsely populated Moody
> County showed an
> anti-Islamic bias when he granted temporary custody
> to the boy's
> grandparents...
>
> Last week, some Muslim women from Minnesota helped
> raise money for
> 29-year-old Sally Barakat's effort to regain custody
> of her son, Trevor.
> Barakat planned to move with Trevor from Flandreau,
> S.D. - about five miles
> from the Minnesota border - to Egypt, where her
> husband lives.
>
> She met the man, Osama, online about two years ago
> and married him during a
> four-week trip to Egypt. She converted to Islam in
> February, after
> returning to South Dakota.
>
> Barakat's father and stepmother objected to
> Barakat's plans to move to
> Egypt, and filed court papers in which they say she
> "engaged in some
> bizarre behavior, including wearing Muslim garb and
> declaring herself a
> Muslim," according to court papers...
>
> "The inclusion of Islamophobic statements in a court
> filing raises concerns
> about whether this case will be decided based on the
> best interests of the
> child, or on the prejudices of those involved,"
> stated the Council on
> American-Islamic Relations news release.
>
> On June 20, Moody County Circuit Judge Rodney Steele
> granted temporary
> custody of Trevor to his grandparents, and set a
> hearing date past
> Barakat's planned departure for Egypt.
>
> The judge's order, which included surrendering
> Trevor's passport, does not
> state reasons for removing the boy from his mother's
> custody...
>
> "They don't want me to raise my son as a Muslim,"
> Barakat said. "They've
> made that very clear."
>
> At the next hearing, both sides will present
> arguments to the judge in
> hopes of winning permanent custody...
>
> "I want to move to a bigger city, where I'm accepted
> and understood," she
> said. "I'm the only Muslim out here."
>
> ACTION REQUESTED:
>
> The Muslim community in South Dakota set up a bank
> account to help with the
> mother's estimated $2,000 in legal expenses.
> Donations may be sent to:
>
> The Barakat Fund
> c/o Islamic Society of Brookings
> 804 13th St.
> Brookings, SD 57006
>
> E-MAIL: so_dakota_islam@hotmail.com
> Please inform CAIR of any donations sent. E-Mail:
> cair@cair-net.org
>
>
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