Syrian refugee ‘murders his “Westernised” daughter, 18, in honour killing and dumps her in a canal after she started dating local Dutch boy and wanted to stop wearing a headscarf’

A Syrian refugee who fled to the Netherlands has confessed to killing his 18-year-old daughter and dumping her body in a canal before fleeing the country in a stunning admission letter sent to a Dutch newspaper.

Father-of-nine Khaled al-Najjar, 52, wrote in an email to De Telegraaf that he killed his 18-year-old daughter Rayan al-Najjar with his bare hands, urging the publication to report: “I’m the one who killed.”

The bomb confession did not specify exactly why he had decided to kill his daughter, with al-Najjar writing only that he was “very angry with her,” adding: “The reason is between me and the judge.” I will read that in court.”

But neighbors and friends suspect Rayan’s death was the result of an honor killing, with one claiming they had previously protected her when she fled the family home for fear of retaliation from her father.

They requested anonymity to avoid possible reactions and told De Telegraaf that Rayan had a Dutch boyfriend, wanted to stop wearing a headscarf and had been beaten by her father who did not agree with her adoption of a Western lifestyle.

Rayan’s body was recovered from the Knardijk Canal in Lelystad on May 28, almost a week after her last sighting by neighbors at the parental home in Joure, about 50 kilometers away, on May 22.

Neighbors of the Al-Najjar family in Joure (pictured) said Rayan’s death was the result of an honor killing, with one claiming they had previously protected her when she fled the family home for fear of retaliation from her father.

Rayan’s body was recovered from the Knardijk Canal in Lelystad on May 28, almost a week after her last sighting by neighbors at the parental home in Joure, about 48 kilometers away, on May 22.

Investigators were led to her body after De Telegraaf contacted authorities after receiving the shocking email from her father, who only confessed to the crime after fleeing the country for Germany and then Turkey.

Police reportedly arrested two of Rayan’s brothers, aged 22 and 24, on suspicion of aiding their father in the murder of their sister, but al-Najjar insisted in his confession that he had acted alone.

‘I am responsible for what happened and no one else. Don’t accuse people who are innocent. None of the family members have anything to do with the case,” De Telegraaf said in its letter.

‘Nobody, even outside the family, knew what I was doing. I was mysterious towards my family. That’s why I didn’t tell them.’

Neighbors who spoke to De Telegraaf said it was clear Rayan feared for her life before her murder.

Two people who allowed her to take shelter in their home explained how she once showed up on their doorstep, barefoot, begging for help.

‘I was sitting on the couch that evening when I suddenly heard a knock on the window…

“I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and she said: ‘You have to help me, you have to help me, my father wants to kill me.’

The woman who let Rayan into her home said the teenager claimed she was tied up in her house by her father after he heard she was seeing a Dutch boy, adding that rope wounds were clearly visible on her wrists.

The al-Najjar family has lived in Joure in the Netherlands since 2017

Another source told the Dutch press that they feared for Rayan’s life when they learned that she had turned 18 years old just weeks before her disappearance because the girl had said her father wanted to ‘marry her off’ – something Rayan had refused to accept.

‘Two or three weeks ago I saw large letters in the shop window: ”18”. I thought, ‘Oh God, she turned 18,'” the stunned neighbor told the press.

The al-Najjar family comes from Idlib in Syria, but fled their homeland in 2012 during the outbreak of the Syrian civil war and moved to Turkey.

Two years later they moved to Europe and settled in the Netherlands, where they stayed in various refugee centers before finally arriving in Joure in 2017.

Dutch police said they could not comment on the case or the nature of their investigation, other than confirming they had arrested two suspects, believed to be Rayan’s brothers.

News of Rayan’s murder comes after a Somali man was jailed for life in Sweden yesterday after killing his girlfriend because he could not bring himself to admit to his family that he had made her pregnant.

Saga Forsgren Elneborg, 20, was found strangled in her home in the city of Örebro in April 2023 in a case that shocked the Scandinavian country.

A judge in the Örebro court announced yesterday that 22-year-old Mohamedamin Abdirisek could face life in prison after prosecutors tore up his alibi, which ultimately turned out to be a fake story.