Muslim dad, sons accused of killing daughter over ‘Western’ lifestyle, and refusing to wear headscarf.
A Dutch courtroom heard this week how an 18-year-old woman was killed, prosecutors say, for the life she chose to live. Dutch authorities are asking for prison terms of up to 25 years for a Syrian-born father and his two sons, accused of murdering Ryan Al Najjar because they believed her “Western” lifestyle brought their family shame.
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Ryan’s body was found on May 28, 2024, in a lake near the town of Joure in the northern Netherlands. She had been missing for six days. Her hands and feet were tightly bound. Prosecutors believe she was killed on May 22.
The motive, according to the Public Prosecution Service, was her rejection of strict family rules. Authorities say she was targeted for refusing to wear a headscarf and for embracing a more independent life. A specific breaking point, prosecutors suggested in court, may have been a TikTok livestream where Ryan appeared without a headscarf and wearing makeup. This act, they said, was seen by her family as a deep embarrassment.
“They saw Ryan as a burden that had to be removed,” the prosecution stated plainly on Friday. “Just because she was a young woman who wanted to live her own life.”
The details presented were grim. Investigators told the court that her brothers traveled to Rotterdam, where Ryan was living, convinced her to go with them, and took her to a remote spot. There, they were met by their father. The prosecution alleges she was strangled, wrapped in roughly 60 feet of tape, and thrown into the water while still alive. DNA evidence found under Ryan’s fingernails, reports say, connects to her 53-year-old father, Khaled Al Najjar.
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While her brothers, named in local reports as Mohamed and Muhanad, are in custody and face trial, a major complication exists. Khaled Al Najjar, prosecutors say, left the Netherlands for Syria soon after the killing. His extradition to face justice is considered unlikely.
Prosecutors have requested the maximum 25-year sentence for Khaled Al Najjar and 20-year terms for each of his sons. The court will announce its verdict on January 5. The case has cast a spotlight on so-called “honor-based” violence in the Netherlands and the tragic clash between personal freedom and rigid family tradition.
Muslim dad, sons accused of killing daughter over ‘Western’ lifestyle, and refusing to wear headscarf.
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