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A teenager died after she was tied up and thrown into a swamp to drown in an honour killing because her Western behaviour shamed her family, according to prosecutors in the Netherlands.
Ryan Al Najjar's brothers have now been put on trial for her murder, while her father, who is accused of ordering the killing, fled the country to return to Syria.
Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are charged with taking part in the horrific crime against their 18-year-old sister, whose body was found gagged with her hands bound behind her back, ankles taped together, and submerged in a swamp six days after she vanished from the family home in Joure.
Their father, Khaled, will be tried in absentia. Ryan disappeared on May 22, 2024. A passerby discovered her body on May 28 in Lelystad, about 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam.
Investigators later found DNA belonging to her father under her fingernails, indicating that she had put up a fight.
Dutch prosecutors say Ryan was murdered because she had a boyfriend, behaved in a way her family considered 'Western,' and had 'shamed' them.
The Public Prosecution Service formally designated her killing as an honour crime.
The brothers, whose trial began yesterday, insist they were not involved and say their father carried out the murder alone.
Ryan's body was found in a swamp six days after she disappeared from her family home in the Netherlands. She was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back
A court sketch of suspects Mohammed, right, and Muhanad Al Najjar, accused of helping their father kill their sister. The men have insisted their father acted alone
Ryan Al Najjar's brothers have now been put on trial for her murder, while her father, who is accused of ordering the killing, fled the country to return to Syria.
Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are charged with taking part in the horrific crime against their 18-year-old sister, whose body was found gagged with her hands bound behind her back, ankles taped together, and submerged in a swamp six days after she vanished from the family home in Joure.
Their father, Khaled, will be tried in absentia. Ryan disappeared on May 22, 2024. A passerby discovered her body on May 28 in Lelystad, about 25 miles north-east of Amsterdam.
Investigators later found DNA belonging to her father under her fingernails, indicating that she had put up a fight.
Dutch prosecutors say Ryan was murdered because she had a boyfriend, behaved in a way her family considered 'Western,' and had 'shamed' them.
The Public Prosecution Service formally designated her killing as an honour crime.
The brothers, whose trial began yesterday, insist they were not involved and say their father carried out the murder alone.
Ryan's body was found in a swamp six days after she disappeared from her family home in the Netherlands. She was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back
A court sketch of suspects Mohammed, right, and Muhanad Al Najjar, accused of helping their father kill their sister. The men have insisted their father acted alone
