A father alleged to have drowned his daughter in an ‘honour killing’ before fleeing to Syria was a terror to his family and often threatened to kill them if they disobeyed him, a court has heard.
The body of 18-year-old Ryan Al Najjar was found gagged, her hands tied behind her back and her ankles taped together, dumped in a swamp six days after she vanished from the family home in Joure in May last year.
Her brothers, Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are now on trial for her murder, while their father, Khaled, has fled back to Syria.
Investigators found her father’s DNA under Ryan’s fingernails, but prosecutors say they cannot determine whether he, one of her brothers, or both of them carried out the killing.
According to their lawyers, the brothers were not involved in Ryan’s death and could not have known their father intended to kill her.
Johan Mühren, representing Muhanad, said during today’s hearing that his client would ‘never have ended up in the dock without the role played by his father.’
Mühren said Khaled ‘was a terror to his family, but no one dared to stand up to him. He is a grumpy, angry, and authoritarian man who tolerated no dissent.
Ryan’s body was found in a swamp six days after she disappeared from her family home in the Netherlands. She was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back
A court sketch of suspects Mohammed, right, and Muhanad Al Najjar, accused of helping their father kill their sister. The men have insisted their father acted alone
‘Anyone who did so faced abuse and death threats.’
Mohamed and Muhanad now face lengthy prison sentences, while the ‘main perpetrator is still at large in Syria,’ he added. ‘That feels incredibly unjust and unfair.’
According to Mühren, Muhanad did not accompany his father and sister to the place where Ryan was killed, and there is no evidence he took part in smothering, strangling or drowning her.
He called the prosecution’s reliance on data from the pedometer in Muhanad’s phone ‘fake guesswork.’
He also pointed out that only DNA from father Khaled was found on the tape used to bind Ryan and under her nails.
Mühren argued that the brothers’ actions showed they had no intention of harming their sister.
He said Khaled repeatedly issued gruesome instructions during the trip – ordering them to find a deep lake, ‘ditch Ryan,’ and ‘weigh her down by the legs’ so ‘the fish eat her’ – but the brothers ignored every instruction and made no attempt to carry out the plan.
Khaled, the father accused of masterminding the killing, will be tried in absentia after he fled the country.
The teenager’s body was discovered by a passerby in a swamp after prosecutors say her father orchestrated her murder
New details revealed by prosecutors over the weekend claim Ryan had violated her family’s strict expectations by adopting a Western lifestyle, mixing with boys, refusing to wear a headscarf and using social media.
Prosecutors told the court the killing appears to have been triggered by a live TikTok video showing Ryan without a headscarf and wearing makeup.
They said chat messages suggest the video embarrassed Ryan’s family as it did not fit within their traditional views.
Investigators allege the murder followed a long pattern of intimidation and control inside the household, with Ryan’s behaviour viewed by her relatives as a humiliating betrayal that ultimately led to the fatal attack.
The brothers, whose trial began November 27, insist they were not involved and say their father carried out the murder alone.
Ryan disappeared on May 22, 2024. A passerby discovered her body on May 28 in Lelystad, about 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam.
Investigators later found DNA belonging to her father under her fingernails, indicating that she had put up a fight.
Khaled allegedly sent two emails to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf claiming responsibility and saying his sons were innocent. Prosecutors, however, rejected that claim.
They argue that the father told his sons to collect Ryan, drive her to an isolated location, and meet him there.
But Mühren says Muhanad picked up his sister in Rotterdam ‘to take her home. He told her to apologize to her father. Then everything would be okay.’
Shortly after midnight, Ryan was killed.
In court, the prosecutor described the fear Ryan must have felt – alone in the dark and far from help. ‘What must she have feared,’ the prosecutor said.
‘In the middle of the night, in complete darkness, in a completely isolated place.’
The prosecution says Ryan’s brothers carried out the plan knowing she would die.
Attorney Ersen Albayrak argued that Khaled did indeed kill his daughter, but that he acted impulsively rather than with premeditation.
‘He was calm when he saw her, but lost his composure because of things Ryan said,’ the lawyer told the court.
Albayrak said that while Khaled ‘repeatedly threatened Ryan with death,’ his anger ‘always subsided quickly,’ insisting there had been no planned murder.
Forensic investigations confirmed all three suspects were present at the crime scene, although it is unclear who performed specific acts. ‘Khaled was the driving force, but without his sons, Ryan would not have been there at all,’ prosecutors said.
The Prosecution Service demanded a 20-year prison sentence for the brothers, and a 25-year sentence for their fugitive father.
While the brothers blame their father for the murder, their sisters support them and also hold the father responsible.
Prosecutors, however, pointed to intercepted chat messages suggesting the brothers may have been actively involved.
Khaled reportedly sent emails to Dutch media confessing to his daughter’s murder while claiming his sons were not involved.
Before her death, Ryan was being monitored by the police and was given protection, but that was ended prior to her murder. It has not been disclosed why the protection was withdrawn.
Both brothers were arrested shortly after the body was located and have remained in custody since then.
Defense lawyers presented arguments Monday. The court will issue its verdict on January 5.
Khaled fled the country and has not been tracked down.
According to the Dutch current-affairs programme Nieuwsuur, Khaled is believed to be living in northern Syria and has remarried since the killing.
The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security told the programme that the Netherlands currently has no way to secure his return.
‘The possibilities for criminal cooperation with Syria are currently not available,’ the Ministry said. ‘The criminal justice authorities required for this cooperation are not [yet] operational in Syria.’
However, Syria’s own Ministry of Justice has disputed that assertion. Minister Mazhar al-Wais said the system had been rebuilt and was functioning.
‘That may have been the case in the beginning when the regime had just fallen. Now the Syrian justice system has been fully restored,’ 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 assistance in accordance with the regulations.’
The Syrian minister also said his government had never received a request from the Netherlands regarding this case.
The brothers’ lawyers had earlier requested that they be released from pre-trial custody. But a judge ruled that they must be held behind bars until their trial.