WATCH: Tension As Muslim Dad, Sons Kill Daughter Over Lifestyle, Refusing To Wear Headscarf
Dutch prosecutors on Friday sought prison terms of up to 25 years for a Syrian-born father and his two sons accused of killing 18-year-old Ryan Al Najjar because they believed her “Western” lifestyle brought shame to their family.
Al Najjar’s body was recovered on May 28, 2024, from a lake near Joure in the northern Netherlands, six days after she was reported missing.
Her hands and feet had been tightly bound. Prosecutors say she was likely killed on May 22.
Authorities allege the father and sons targeted her for rejecting conservative family expectations, including refusing to wear a headscarf.
Prosecutors said a TikTok livestream showing her without a headscarf and wearing makeup was considered an embarrassment to the family and may have been the immediate trigger for the attack.
According to investigators, her brothers travelled to Rotterdam, persuaded her to leave with them, and took her to a remote location where their father met them.
“They saw Ryan as a burden that had to be removed,” the Public Prosecution Service said Friday. “Just because she was a young woman who wanted to live her own life.”
She was allegedly strangled, bound with about 60 feet of tape, and thrown alive into the water. DNA found under her fingernails reportedly links her father, identified as 53-year-old Khaled Al Najjar, to the crime.
Local media named the brothers as Mohamed and Muhanad. All three were charged with her murder, though prosecutors say the father fled to Syria shortly after the killing and may be difficult to extradite.
Prosecutors have requested a 25-year sentence for Khaled and 20 years each for his sons. The court is expected to deliver its ruling on January 5.
