Europe’s Growing ‘Honour Killing’ Problem
2nd December 2025
Last May, two brothers allegedly bound their 18-year-old sister in packing tape, gagged her, and drowned her in a swamp. This was an honour killing, motivated by what the girl’s brothers saw as her ‘westernisation.’ During the trial last week, WhatsApp messages revealed that the family’s main grievances were the fact that she had refused an arranged marriage, had a boyfriend, and had stopped wearing a headscarf. “There is no other solution,” one of the brothers wrote in a message. The girl’s own mother said that she was “a disgrace to the family and deserves to die” and should be “wrapped in a shroud.” In a secretly recorded conversation, one brother said he believed the family had been humiliated by the girl’s behaviour, and the only way out was her death.
This happened not in Nigeria, Pakistan, or Iran, but in the Netherlands. Ryan Al Najjar was allegedly murdered by Mohamed Al Najjar, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, in the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in Flevoland, 75 miles away from their home in Joure, Friesland. The killing is thought to have been ordered by their father, who fled back to his home country of Syria following his daughter’s death and has since remarried.
Police had been monitoring Ryan due to previous reports that she was in danger at home, but this protection ended shortly before her murder. In 2023, she had fled from the family’s house barefoot, telling neighbours that she thought her father might kill her. As a result, she had been given some police protection and was taken to a secret location, but she eventually had to return home.