Two brothers in the Netherlands are on trial for the alleged honor killing of their Syrian teenage sister, whom her family accused of living a Western lifestyle.
The two men are suspected of being involved in the murder of their sister, Ryan Al Najjar, who was drowned, the NL Times reported Thursday.
Twenty-three-year-old Mohamed and 25-year-old Muhanad are suspected of being involved in the murder along with their father, Khaled, who has been named the main suspect in the case. However, he allegedly fled to Syria after the killing, according to i24 News. The father will reportedly be tried in absentia.
Per the Times article:
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) determined that Ryan’s murder was an honor killing. According to the OM, the three men killed the 18-year-old woman because she was dating, behaved too “Western,” and “shamed” her family.
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According to the prosecutor, Khaled al-N. Enlisted his sons to pick Ryan up, drive her to a remote location, and throw her weighted body into the water. They did so knowing that their sister would not survive.
Prosecutors have recommended sentences of 25 years for the father and 20 years each for the brothers in the case, the i24 News article said, noting a verdict is expected in early January.
Ryan’s body was found in a lake in northern Netherlands. Her hands and feet were bound and an autopsy report said there was signs of strangulation and drowning.
Images show the young woman wearing a headscarf and without one:
“DNA evidence from her father was discovered under her fingernails, indicating a struggle,” the i24 News article said.
According to officials, the teenager was targeted because she refused to wear a veil in public and posted a social media video of herself wearing makeup and without a veil.
The father is accused of joining in the killing after the brothers lured their teenage sister to a remote location.
Although the Ministry of Justice and Security has said there was not much officials in the Netherlands could do to bring the father back for trial, the Syrian Ministry of Justice said, “That may have been the case in the beginning when the regime had just fallen. Now the Syrian justice system has been fully restored. We are ready.”
Islam has long been an issue in the Netherlands. In 2014, Breitbart News reported a Dutch right-wing member of parliament called for a purge of mosques.
“Dutch unity, identity and culture are being wrecked by immigration and incubation. We do not want Islam in the Netherlands,” Machiel de Graaf, a member of Dutch anti-immigration and anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV), stated at the time.
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