I have to admit that I was planning to take the day off after I wrote a quick update on the Honduran elections, but this disgusting story got under my skin, and I felt that honoring Ryan al-Najjar was more important than getting caught up on laundry and Netflix.
Ryan was only 18 years old. She had her entire adult life ahead of her. Her Muslim family was from Syria, but in 2014 they moved to the Netherlands as asylum seekers. Apparently, the peace and refuge they found were only for the men.
Like any teenage girl, Ryan wanted to fit in, so she began "acting Western," as her father and brothers put it. She took an interest in boys, makeup, and social media and refused to wear a headscarf. In 2023, she ran to a neighbor's house, screaming and claiming her father was trying to kill her.
In 2024, he did.
Apparently, the last straw came when he saw her post a live video on TikTok. Ryan was wearing makeup and her head was uncovered. The men felt she brought "shame" to their family.
That night, the father ordered his sons to kidnap their sister and meet him at a swamp. They gagged her and bound her hands and feet with duct tape and tied heavy objects to her to weigh her down before throwing her into the water to drown.
18-year-old Syrian Muslim girl was tied up with tape and drowned in a ditch in the Netherlands by her father and brothers for removing her hijab and being too ‘Westernized.’
— Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf) November 27, 2025
When they were arrested, they defended themselves by claiming honor killings are ‘part of their culture.’ pic.twitter.com/xhSJpzKwAK
That happened on May 22, 2024. Six days later, a passerby found her body in the city of Lelystad, about 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam. Her family was already on law enforcement's radar, but it did her no good. The Telegraph reports that she'd been under some sort of police protection until just before her murder.
Evidence suggests she fought back. Her father's DNA was found under her fingernails. Her brothers' fingerprints were on her phone, which was tucked into her sock.
The brothers — Mohamed al-Najjar, 23, and Muhanad al-Najjar, 25 — are currently on trial in the Netherlands for her murder. Their father, Khaled Najjar, fled to Turkey. While living in Istanbul, he reached out to relatives, telling them where they could find Ryan's body. He also wrote letters to Dutch media claiming that his sons were not involved in the murder and that he was the one who did it on his own. The brothers also maintain this story. Prosecutors disagree.
They also call it an "honor killing," claiming it was simply part of their religious values.
Now, the father is back in Syria, where he has remarried while his sons face up to 20 years in prison.
The Dutch Justice Ministry says it wants to extradite the father, but that "the criminal justice authorities required for this co-operation are not [yet] operational in Syria." The Syrian regime claims everything is in place, but that it hasn't received any kind of formal request from the Netherlands. However, it says it will provide assistance as soon as it's asked.
Honor killings, mostly by Muslim men, have been on the rise in Europe over the last few decades. I suspect we'll start seeing more of them here soon at the rate things are going.
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