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17-11-2004 Scotsman 29 days of terror end with a bullet in the head
By Gethin Chamberlain THE family of Margaret Hassan were mourning her death last night after the news that the aid worker had been shot dead by her terrorist captors. Almost a month to the day after she was kidnapped, a video tape was released showed a figure wearing a hood firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit. It is believed she may have been killed a number of days ago, which rules out retaliation for the apparent shooting by a US marine of an unarmed and injured Iraqi man in Fallujah as a motive. Mrs Hassan, 59, who was in charge of the Iraq office of the Brussels-based charity Care International, was married to an Iraqi and had lived in the country for 30 years. The Irish-born British-Iraqi national was abducted on 19 October when armed men stopped her car as she drove to work in Baghdad. The Arabic television station al-Jazeera said last night that it had received a video showing a gunman killing a woman, believed to be Mrs Hassan. Its spokesman, Jihad Ballout, said the station received the tape a few days ago, but was not sure of its authenticity. It had decided not to broadcast the images "because we respect the audience's feelings". Mrs Hassan's husband, Tahsin Hassan, said he was aware that the tape had surfaced. "I have been told that there is a video of Margaret which appears to show her murder," he said. Mr Hassan appealed to the kidnappers to return his wife's body for burial if, indeed, they had killed her. "I want to know if she is alive or dead. If she's dead, I want to know where she is so I can bury her in peace," he said. "I need her. I need her back to rest in peace. Margaret lived with me in Iraq for 30 years. She dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people. Please now, please return her to me." Mrs Hassan's brothers and sisters - Michael, Deirdre, Geraldine and Kathryn Fitzsimons - said, in a statement released by the Foreign Office, that they accepted she was now dead. "Our hearts are broken," they said. "We have kept hoping for as long as we could, but we now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended." The family's statement did not indicate why they believed she was dead, but it said: "Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses. Nobody can justify this. Margaret was against sanctions and the war. To commit such a crime against anyone is unforgivable. But we cannot believe how anybody could do this to our kind, compassionate sister. The gap she leaves will never be filled." Last night Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said: "Our experts have been examining a video which appeared to show that Margaret Hassan has been murdered, to establish whether it is genuine. "As a result of our analysis, we have today had to inform Margaret Hassan's family that, sadly, we now believe that she has probably been murdered, although we cannot conclude this with complete certainty." A spokesman for Tony Blair said: "The Prime Minister sends his sympathy to the family of Margaret Hassan and shares their abhorrence at the cruel treatment of someone who devoted so many years of their life to helping the people of Iraq." Few foreign women have been taken hostage in Iraq as militants wage a campaign of kidnappings and killings to try to force US-led troops and foreigners to leave the country. More than 35 foreign hostages have been killed and last month, the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group beheaded the British engineer Kenneth Bigley after the UK refused to withdraw its forces. Mrs Hassan was different from the 150 other foreigners taken hostage and there were real hopes she would be freed. The eight woman previously abducted had all been released and even Zarqawi is said to have called for her release "unless it is proven she was conspiring against Muslims". On Sunday, US forces found the mutilated body of a western woman in Fallujah, although reports claimed she was blonde - Mrs Hassan was a brunette. US military officials said the body was found lying in the street and may have been recently moved to that location. On Monday, Care International said it could not rule out the possibility that the body was that of Mrs Hassan. It said it was waiting for conclusive details from Iraqi authorities. Yesterday, Care said the video appeared to prove Mrs Hassan was dead. "It is with profound sadness that we have learnt of the existence of a video in which it appears that our colleague Margaret Hassan has been killed. The whole of Care is in mourning," it said. Hours after Mrs Hassan was kidnapped, a video passed to al-Jazeera showed her with her hands bound behind her back and looking distressed. The broadcaster reported that an unnamed "armed Iraqi group" said it had taken her. Tony Blair promised to do "whatever we can" to secure her release. On 22 October, al-Jazeera aired a new video of a weeping Mrs Hassan in which she pleaded with the British people to save her life. She said she did not want to die like Ken Bigley. Five days later, another videotape on al-Jazeera showed her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. She also asked for the release of all female prisoners in Iraq and for Care International to close its offices in the country. The following day, Care said it had closed all its operations in Iraq and again pleaded for the release of the hostage. Despite the videos, no group claimed responsibility for her abduction. On 2 November al-Jazeera reported that the kidnappers had threatened to turn Mrs Hassan over to al-Qaeda-linked militants unless Britain agreed within 48 hours to remove its troops from Iraq. Three days later, a message purporting to be from Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq group called for her release and promised to free her if she fell into their hands.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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