A FATHER who is alleged to have drowned his teen daughter in an honour killing “was a terror to his family”, lawyers say.
Khaled al N. is accused of ordering his sons to kill Ryan Al Najjar, 18, after she brought “shame” to the family with her “Western behaviour”, which included having a boyfriend and refusing to cover her hair.
However, lawyers suggest that Khaled al N killed his 18-year-old daughter –not his sons.
Khaled has fled the Netherlands for Syria, but brothers Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are now on trial for murder.
Ryan’s body was found tied up and dumped in a swamp, days after she had disappeared from her Joure home.
Lawyers for the two brothers said that the pair were not involved in their sister’s death.
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Johan Mühren, defending the brothers, said that Khaled al N. “was a terror to his family, but no one dared to stand up to him.”
He said Mohamed and Muhanad had no way of knowing that their father planned to kill their sister.
Mühren continued: “He is a grumpy, angry, and authoritarian man who tolerated no dissent. Anyone who did so faced abuse and death threats.”
The father’s DNA was found under Ryan’s fingernails, but prosecutors said that they do not know if Khaled al N. or one or both of the brothers killed her.
The lawyer argued that the main perpetrator is still at large in Syria while Mohamed and Muhanad face a hefty prison sentence.
He said: “That feels incredibly unjust and unfair.”
The “authoritarian” father Khaled al N. is to be tried in absentia.
Muhanad, the older brother, picked up his sister in Rotterdam “to take her home” so that she could “apologise to her father” and make things right, the brothers’ lawyer said.
The lawyer alleged that Khaled repeatedly told the brothers to find a deep lake, “ditch Ryan” and “weigh her down by the legs” so “the fish eat her”.
Yet he said that Mohamed and Muhanad ignored these orders and did not get involved with the plan.
Mühren alleged that death threats were so “commonplace” within the family that they were not taken seriously.
The fugitive father allegedly claimed sole responsibility in two emails sent to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, saying his sons were innocent.
Yet prosecutors point to messages where the brothers referred to Ryan as a “pig” that had to be “slaughtered”.
The teen had reportedly humiliated her family by mixing with boys and using social media in a “Western” lifestyle.
Prosecutors say the breaking point was when the 18-year-old appeared in a TikTok livestream wearing makeup and no headscarf.
A prosecutor said: “Honour killings are completely unacceptable.”
“This is a form of femicide.”
A lawyer for father Khaled al N. argued that he did kill his daughter, but said he had acted impulsively.
Ersen Albayrak said: “He was calm when he saw her, but lost his composure because of things Ryan said.”
The lawyer insisted that there was no planned murder: “He repeatedly threatened Ryan with death, but the anger always subsided quickly.”
The verdict is due on 5 January.