A 18-year-old Ryan Al Najjar, Dutch girl of Syrian origin, was murdered by her own family , for embracing behaviors they viewed as shameful “Western influences.” The teenager, who had recently stopped wearing her headscarf and was active on social media, was kidnapped from a house in Rotterdam shortly after midnight. Her brothers drove her to a remote swamp in northern Netherlands, where her father, Khaled Al Najjar, gagged and bound her with tape before submerging her. Ryan’s body was discovered six days later near Joure, bearing signs of a fierce struggle, including Khaled’s DNA under her fingernails.
Prosecutors pinpoint the trigger to a live TikTok video where Ryan appeared without her headscarf and with makeup, compounded by her interactions with boys—acts her conservative family deemed dishonorable. Intercepted messages confirmed the brothers’ complicity in the abduction, despite Khaled’s email to Dutch media admitting sole responsibility for the drowning while exonerating his sons. He fled to Syria post-crime.
The trial began in a Dutch court on December 4, 2025, charging the two unnamed brothers with murder, each facing up to 20 years. Khaled, prosecuted in absentia, risks 25 years. Defense arguments are set for January 7, 2026, with a verdict expected January 5. “What must she have feared—in the middle of the night, in complete darkness?” prosecutors poignantly asked, underscoring the terror.
