Honor killing victim was being protected by police shortly before her murder
A teenager allegedly murdered by family members last May was being monitored by intense surveillance and was receiving protection from authorities before she was killed. Ryan Al Najjar, 18, was abducted, bound with tape, and drowned in Lelystad. It was not clear why her protection was stopped.
Prosecutors have said they believe her family felt disgraced by her involvement and integration in Dutch society. Her brothers were arrested in the case, and her father fled to Syria to evade arrest, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) previously indicated.
Her protection by the authorities was already ended before she was killed, a spokesperson for the OM said, confirming reporting by the Leeuwarder Courant which was published on Monday. The office also would not say when security started for Al Najjar, who was living in Joure at the time of the slaying.
The Leeuwarder Courant requested information from the police and the Public Prosecution Service about Ryan’s security in the period before her death. Information about her was found in the system to log surveillance and security details for individuals.
Prosecutors suspect that Al Najjar was the victim of an honor killing, saying they have evidence to indicate that her family thought she acted too much in line with Western beliefs. Her older brothers, Muhanad Al N., 25, and Mohamed Al N., 23, have been accused of murder. They were ordered to remain in pre-trial detention in February.
The brothers accused her father, Khaled Al N., of carrying out the murder. Prosecutors said his DNA was found on the 18 meters of tape used to restrain his daughter. His DNA also matched forensic evidence found under three of her fingernails, which “indicates she had resisted,” the prosecutor told the District Court in Lelystad in February.
Her hands were bound behind her back, her mouth was taped shut, and her ankles were taped together when her body was found in the water near Knardijk by a forest service employee.
“If she is lying and causing us to lose even more face, she must be punished,” said Muhanad Al N. in a text conversation with the other two suspects 12 days before the murder, the OM said. Other statements were made indicating she should be killed for her behavior in those messages.
The young woman’s mother also allegedly wrote, “God willing, we will see her wrapped in a shroud. Ryan is a disgrace to the family and deserves to die.”
The next preliminary hearing in the murder case will take place in Lelystad on April 25, and another status hearing is expected on June 30. The trial date will likely take place later this year.
