Dutch Court Convicts Father for Instructing Sons to Drown Daughter in Swamp Over 'Western Behavior'

AN on-the-run father who bound and drowned his daughter in a horrific honour killing, has been sentenced to spend three decades behind bars.

Khaled al Najjar, 53, fled the country just hours after he murdered his 18-year-old daughter Ryan with the help of his two sons, Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad, 25.

Ryan al Najjar was murdered in May 2024, by her father and two brothersCredit: Politie Mohammed (R) and Muhanad Al Najjar (L) were sentenced to 20 years each behind bars on Monday, while their father remains in hiding in SyriaCredit: Shutterstock Editorial

The fugitive father left his two sons to face the consequences, after the trio dumped Ryan’s body in a swamp inside an isolated nature reserve in May 2024.

Khaled vanished from their family home in Joure, six days before his dead daughter was found gagged, with her hands tied up behind her back, ankles taped together and submerged in a swamp.

Khaled, where he has remained in hiding.

The three men were and sentenced by a Dutch court on Monday.

The villainous dad was sentenced in absentia to 30 years behind bars.

Mohamed and Muhanad were each sentenced to spend 20 years locked up.

Muhanad was the only one of the three men to appear in court, dressed in a beige hoodie.

After the judge read out her decision, he declared he would “clear his name”.

According to court officials, Mohamed decided to stay in jail rather than attend the sentencing.

Muhanad’s lawyer John Muhren – nephew of former Manchester United and Ipswich Town player Arnold Muhren – said they would be appealing the sentence.

“I will have to speak with my client,” he said.

“There is no direct evidence linking him to the crime.”

An official written summary said that Khaled had tied up his daughter and strangled her.

He then left her dead body in the water.

The court heard one of the sons had also been present at the location of his sister’s death, however it was not specified which son.

While unable to specify the roles of either son, the court heard it was “irrelevant to the questions of guilt”.

In the ruling, the judge said: “It is clear that he, too, played a significant role in his sister’s death”.

“He and his brother picked her up from Rotterdam and drove them to the Oostvaardersplassen, knowing what awaited her,” the court heard.

Last month, prosecutors revealed new details of the case, which claimed Ryan had broken her family’s expectations.

Her actions had “humiliated her family”, where she mixed with boys, used social media and refused to wear a headscarf.

Prosecutors said the murder appeared to have been triggered by a TikTok video, where Ryan was seen without a headscarf and wearing makeup.

Messages between the family members suggested Ryan’s video had embarrassed the family, breaking their strict and traditional values.

A prosecutor said: “Honour killings are completely unacceptable.”

“This is a form of femicide.”

Ryan was reported missing on May 22 in 2024.

Her body was discovered by a passerby on May 28 in Lelystad – 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam.

Investigators said Ryan’s murder followed a pattern of intimidation and control inside the household.

Mühren said that Khaled “was a terror to his family, but no one dared to stand up to him.”

The lawyer said the brothers had no way of knowing that their father planned to kill their sister.

“He is a grumpy, angry, and authoritarian man who tolerated no dissent. Anyone who did so faced abuse and death threats,” Muhren said.

Investigators found Khaled’s DNA underneath Ryan’s fingernails, indicating the young woman had fought for her life.

The court heard the father had allegedly sent two emails to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, taking responsibility for the crime, while claiming his two sons were innocent.

Prosecutors have rejected those claims, arguing the brothers picked up Ryan in Rotterdam and drove her to the isolated location.

Muhren claimed that Muhanad had picked up his sister to “take her home”.

“He told her to apologise to her father, that everything would be OK,” he said.

Prosecutors rubbished the argument, claiming both brothers carried out the grim plan knowing she would die.

Ryan was murdered just after midnight.

She had previously been under protection, but that ended before her murder.

Cops have not disclosed why the protection ceased.

Prosecutors Ryan may have felt throughout the murder.

The brothers were arrested within hours of her body being found and have remained in custody ever since.

Khaled remains on the run in northern Syria, where he has reportedly remarried, according to Dutch media.

“What must she have feared,” the court heard.

“In the middle of the night, in complete darkness, in a completely isolated place.”

At least five women a year in the Netherlands require heavy police protection from suspected honour-killing threats, and reports suggest such crimes have risen sharply across Europe in the last two to three decades.