A father who murdered his 18-year-old daughter in a brutal honour killing has been sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Dutch court, but remains a fugitive in Syria. Khaled al Najjar, 53, was convicted in absentia for the death of his daughter, Ryan al Najjar, who was bound with 18 metres of duct tape and drowned in a shallow lake.
A Harrowing Discovery in a National Park
Ryan al Najjar's body was discovered face down in a swamp within a secluded nature reserve in Lelystad, roughly 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam, in May 2024. She had been reported missing just six days earlier. The scene was one of extreme brutality: her hands were tied behind her back, her ankles bound together, and she had been gagged with an extensive amount of adhesive tape before being submerged in the water.
Forensic evidence presented to the court delivered a chilling conclusion: traces of her father's DNA were found on the duct tape and under Ryan's fingernails. Crucially, the prosecution established that the young woman was still alive when she was thrown into the pool to drown.
Brothers Implicated and a Father on the Run
Ryan's two older brothers, Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad, 25, were present in court and each received substantial 20-year sentences for their roles in her death. Prosecutors successfully argued that both brothers knowingly drove their sister to the remote location where she was killed, despite their father's later claims in a letter to a newspaper that he acted alone.
The court heard that the motive for the murder stemmed from Ryan's rejection of her family's strict Islamic values while living in Joure, Friesland. Prosecutors stated the family saw her as "a burden that needed to be got rid of," with a TikTok video showing her without a headscarf and wearing makeup cited as a potential trigger.
Khaled al Najjar fled to northern Syria following the killing, where he has since remarried. With no extradition treaty between Syria and the Netherlands, it is highly unlikely he will ever serve his sentence.
A Pattern of Abuse and a Failed Appeal
Disturbing details emerged during the trial about Ryan's life prior to her death. She had been taken into care multiple times since 2022 and had repeatedly reported to police that her father and brothers had threatened and assaulted her.
The brothers denied direct involvement in the murder, labelling their father a "psychopath." However, evidence showed they participated in covering up the crime by deleting material from Ryan's phone and urging family members to destroy chat records. Only Muhanad attended the sentencing hearing, where his lawyer announced an appeal, arguing a lack of direct evidence.
The case has cast a stark light on the horrific reality of so-called honour-based violence and the challenges of bringing perpetrators to justice when they flee abroad.
