Netherlands: Teen Girl Brutally Assaulted by Family Over Alleged ‘Western Behavior’

Image: Jihad Watch

Dutch prosecutors have revealed a deeply disturbing case of alleged honour killing in which an 18-year-old girl, Ryan Al Najjar, was bound, gagged, and thrown into a swamp to drown—punished, they say, because her family believed her increasingly “Western” lifestyle had brought shame upon them. The tragedy has shocked the Netherlands and reignited debate around honour-based violence within migrant communities.

Ryan’s two older brothers—23-year-old Mohamed and 25-year-old Muhanad Al Najjar—are now standing trial for her murder. Their father, Khaled Al Najjar, whom prosecutors describe as the mastermind who orchestrated the killing, fled the Netherlands and returned to Syria shortly after the incident. He will be tried in absentia.

According to the charges, the young woman vanished from her family’s home in Joure on May 22, 2024. For nearly a week, authorities searched for her. That search ended on May 28, when a passerby in Lelystad, roughly 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam, stumbled upon her body submerged in a swamp. Ryan had been gagged, her hands bound behind her back, and her ankles tightly taped together. Prosecutors say there is no doubt she was deliberately left to drown.

A forensic examination later uncovered DNA belonging to her father beneath her fingernails—a grim sign that Ryan struggled and attempted to defend herself before she was overpowered.

The prosecution argues that Ryan’s murder was driven by her family’s belief that she had adopted values and behaviours they viewed as too “Western,” including having a boyfriend. These choices, investigators say, were seen by her family—particularly her father—as a source of unbearable shame. The Public Prosecution Service officially classified her death as an honour killing.

During the trial, the brothers have maintained that they had nothing to do with the crime. They claim their father acted alone and insist they were neither present nor aware of his intentions. Prosecutors, however, dispute this narrative. They say the father devised the plan and instructed his sons to pick up Ryan, transport her to a remote area, and throw her into the water while she was restrained and unable to escape. According to the prosecution, the brothers followed these instructions knowing the outcome would be fatal.

Further complicating the case are two emails allegedly sent by Khaled to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, in which he claimed full responsibility for the killing and insisted that his sons were innocent. Prosecutors have dismissed these emails as an attempt to shield the brothers, arguing that the evidence firmly places all three men at the heart of the crime.

It has also emerged that Ryan had previously been under police protection due to concerns for her safety. Authorities had been monitoring her situation, but for reasons not yet disclosed, this protection was discontinued shortly before her death. This revelation has raised serious questions about whether her murder could have been prevented.

As the trial continues, the case has sparked widespread outrage across the Netherlands, prompting a renewed national conversation about honour-based violence, women’s safety, and the responsibilities of the state in protecting vulnerable individuals from threats within their own families.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)