Two brothers accused of drowning their sister in a swamp in an ‘honour killing’ have blamed their runaway father for her murder.
The body of Ryan Al Najjar was found gagged, with her hands bound behind her back and ankles taped together, in the city of Lelystad in the Netherlands, last May.
The 18-year-old was killed after a TikTok live video of her without a headscarf and wearing makeup embarrassed her traditional family because it was outside their traditional views, the court heard.
Her brothers, Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are now on trial for her murder, while her father, Khaled Al Najjar, will be tried in absentia after fleeing to Syria.
DNA belonging to Khaled was found under Ryan’s fingernails but prosecutors say they cannot determine whether the dad, one of her brothers, or both of them were behind the killing.
Mohamed and Muhanad were arrested soon after her body was found. They deny killing their sister and say their father acted alone.
The brother’s lawyers told the court on Monday they were not involved in their sister’s death and could not have known their father intended to kill her.
Johan Mühren, representing Muhanad, said the father ‘was a terror to his family, but no one dared to stand up to him.’
He added: ‘He is a grumpy, angry, and authoritarian man who tolerated no dissent.
‘Anyone who did so faced abuse and death threats.’
The lawyer said it was ‘incredibly unjust and unfair’ that while the brothers face long prison sentences the ‘main perpetrator is still at large in Syria.’
Mühren insisted that Muhanad would ‘never have ended up in the dock without the role played by his father.’
Khaled allegedly sent two emails to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, confessing to her murder and saying that his sons were not involved.
But prosecutors dispute that version of events. They claim that he enlisted his sons to pick Ryan up, drive her to a remote location, and throw her body into the water.
However Mühren said that the brothers showed no intention of harming their sister and that Muhanad did not accompany his father and Ryan to the place she was killed.
The court also heard there was also no evidence he took part in smothering, strangling or drowning her.
During the trip, Khaled was said to have issued repeatedly brutal orders – telling them to find a deep lake, ‘ditch Ryan,’ and ‘weigh her down by the legs’ so ‘the fish eat her’.
But Mühren said the brothers ignored the instructions and did not try to execute the plan.
The Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands has formally designated the teenager’s murder as honour-based violence, stating that Khaled ordered for her to be killed because she ‘brought shame to the family’ by behaving too ‘Western’.
Prosecutors revealed that this behaviour allegedly included mixing with boys, refusing to wear a headscarf and using social media.
This was said to have culminated in a live TikTok video where she was without a headscarf and wearing makeup.
Prosecutors said chat messages indicate the video embarrassed Ryan’s family as it did not fit within their traditional views.
The teenager disappeared on May 22, 2024, with her body beig discovered by a passerby on May 28 in Lelystad, 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam.
Prosecutors argue Khaled ordered his sons to collect Ryan, driver her to an isolated location and meet him there.
Ryan was killed shortly after midnight, with prosecutors arguing Mohamed and Muhanad knew she would die.
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.’
Forensic investigations confirmed all three suspects were present at the scene, although it is unclear who performed specific acts.
Prosecutors said: ‘Khaled was the driving force, but without his sons, Ryan would not have been there at all.’
The prosecution service was 20 year sentences for the brothers and a 25-year sentence for Khaled.
Attorney Ersen Albayrak insisted in court there was no premeditated plan from the father to kill his daughter.
He said instead that he acted impulsively rather, adding: ‘He was calm when he saw her, but lost his composure because of things Ryan said.’
The court will issue its verdict on January 5.
According to the Dutch current-affairs programme Nieuwsuur, Khaled is believed to be living in northern Syria and has remarried since the killing.
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