Migrant dad tied up teenage daughter and drowned her in swamp in sickening honour killing | World | News
An immigrant father who bound and strangled his daughter in a sickening honor killing has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Coward Khaled al Najjar, 53, fled the Netherlands hours after the body of his 18-year-old daughter Ryan was found in the water at an isolated nature reserve in the town of Lelystad, about 40 miles northeast of Amsterdam.
Dutch police had previously published a photo of Ryan, wearing a blue headscarf and make-up, after launching a murder investigation where her body was found in May 2024. Al-Najjir’s two sons, Mohamed (23) and Muhanad (25), were also convicted for their part in their sister’s death and sentenced to 20 years in prison each. Only Muhanad was present in the court to hear the sentence. Both have previously denied any involvement in Ryan’s murder.
The sentence given to Khalid is understood to be five years longer than the sentence recommended by Dutch prosecutors and is the maximum possible sentence for someone convicted of less than one murder in the Netherlands. Khalid may never be served the sentence because he is hiding in Syria, which has no extradition agreement with the Netherlands.
De Telegraaf reportThe judge said it was “indigestible and incomprehensible” for a father to kill his own daughter, adding: “He talks a lot about honor but took no responsibility.”
The court heard Ryan was taken from a friend’s house in Rotterdam in May 2024 after his two brothers lied to him and told him they would protect him from his angry father. However, the duo were actually receiving instructions from Khaled, ordering them to find deep water, weigh down their sister’s body, and “let the fish eat her.”
Muhanad was said to have been there when the brothers took Ryan to his father, who was lying in wait to kill him. She was strangled, her ankles and wrists were tied with tape, and her mouth was also taped shut. He died after drowning in a nature reserve near Knardijk.
DNA and phone records linked both Khaled and Muhanad to the murder, and the court stated, “He didn’t stand a chance against three grown men.”
Ryan’s younger brother Mohamed remained in the cars the men took to the remote site, but the court heard this did not diminish the seriousness of his role in his death.
The court in Lelystad heard the father and brothers were only interested in making up a story about Ryan’s disappearance and covering their own tracks. Police found that they did not try to look for their missing sister because “they knew she wouldn’t be able to answer.”
Khaled had previously denied his sons’ involvement in Ryan’s murder, but the Dutch judge did not take kindly to the situation, stating: “The court strongly suspects that Khaled took the blame from a distant foreign country to protect the brothers from harm.”
