Teenager is ‘tied up and thrown into a swamp to drown in honour killing after her “Western behaviour shamed the family” – before father flees to Syria’
A teenager was tied up and thrown into a swamp to drown in an honor killing after his Western behavior embarrassed his family, according to prosecutors in the Netherlands.
While Ryan Al Najjar’s brothers were on trial for the murder, his father, accused of ordering the murder, fled the country and returned to Syria.
Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are accused of taking part in the horrific crime against their 18-year-old sister, whose body was found with her hands tied behind her back, her ankles taped together and submerged in a swamp six days after she disappeared from the family home in Joure.
Their father, Halid, will be tried in absentia. Ryan disappeared on May 22, 2024. His body was found by a passerby on May 28 in Lelystad, about 80 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam.
Investigators later found his father’s DNA under his fingernails, indicating he had been in a fight.
Dutch prosecutors say Ryan was killed because she had a boyfriend, behaved in what her family described as a “Western” way, and because she “embarrassed” them.
The prosecutor’s office officially defined his killing as an honor crime.
The brothers, who started the trial yesterday, insist that they were not involved in the incident and say that their father committed the murder alone.
Khalid allegedly sent two emails to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, claiming responsibility and saying his sons were innocent. However, prosecutors rejected this claim.
They claim the father told his sons to pick up Ryan, take him to an isolated location and throw him into the water while he was gagged and weighed down.
The prosecution says the brothers carried out the plan knowing he would die.
Prior to his death, Ryan was being monitored and provided protection by the police, but this ended before his murder. It was not disclosed why his protection was stopped.
Ryan’s body was found in marshland six days after he disappeared from the family home in the Netherlands. She was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back
Both brothers were arrested shortly after the body was discovered and have remained in custody ever since. Their father fled the country and could not be traced.
According to Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur, Khaled is believed to have been living in northern Syria and remarried after the murder.
The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security told the program that the Netherlands currently has no way of securing his return.
The ministry said, ‘Opportunities for criminal cooperation with Syria do not currently exist.’ ‘Criminal justice authorities required for this cooperation [yet] ‘It operates in Syria.’
However, Syria’s Ministry of Justice disputed this claim. Minister Mazhar al-Wais said the system has been rebuilt and is working.
‘This might have been the case when the regime had just fallen. “The Syrian justice system has now been completely re-established,” he said.
He said the country was ‘ready’, adding that Syria has already received three legal-assistance requests from European nations.
‘We will provide the necessary legal support in line with the legislation.’
The Syrian minister also said that his government had not received any requests from the Netherlands regarding this case.
The brothers’ lawyers had previously requested their release from pre-trial detention. However, the judge ruled that these people should be kept behind bars until the trial.
It is estimated that police in the Netherlands provide intense protection to at least two women a year when they are at risk of honor killing.
