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ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

VIDEOTAPE SHOWS EVIDENCE THAT BRITISH AID WORKER IS DEAD
U.S. Marines Find Body Of Western Woman In Fallujah

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) -- The kidnappers of British aid worker Margaret Hassan have released a video tape that appears to show her murder a month after she was seized in Baghdad, her husband and British officials said on Tuesday, several news agencies, including the BBC, Reuters and the Associated Press, are reporting. (Pictured: Margaret Hassan).

"We can confirm there is a tape that appears to show Margaret's murder," a British embassy official in Baghdad told Reuters. "We believe it is probably genuine."

If confirmed, the murder of Hassan would be the first killing of a foreign woman taken hostage by militants in Iraq.

Arabic television channel Al Jazeera said it had received a tape that appeared to show Hassan being shot.

Hassan's husband Tahsin appealed for her kidnappers to hand over her body if she had been killed.

"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 told Reuters. "Margaret lived with me for more than 30 years in Iraq and dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people."

Hassan's captors had demanded that British troops leave Iraq. Last month the militant group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley after their demands that all Iraqi women be released from jail were not met. The group also killed two Americans seized with Bigley.

More than 120 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since April and more than three dozen have been killed.

NEW VIDEO 'SHOWS HASSAN MURDER'

Mrs Hassan had lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi A video apparently showing the murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan seems to be genuine, says the British Embassy. Mrs Hassan's brothers and sisters have said in a statement they believe she is dead, saying: "Our hearts are broken."

Her Iraqi husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan, has made a plea for her body to be returned to him "to rest in peace."

Mrs Hassan, who has Irish, British and Iraqi nationality, was seized by an unknown group in the Iraqi capital on 19 October.

Several news agencies have reported a tape showing her murder has surfaced in Iraq on Tuesday.

Arabic TV news channel Al Jazeera has said it has had a copy of the tape for several days but has chosen not to broadcast it. And Mr Hassan has appealed to the kidnappers to return his wife's body.

"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 told Reuters news agency.

Mrs Hassan's brothers and sisters, Michael, Deirdre, Kathryn and Geraldine Fitzsimons, described her as a "friend of the Arab world, to people of all religions."

They added: "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."

She had goodwill towards everyone, they said.

"She had no prejudice against any creed. She dedicated her whole life to working for the poor and vulnerable, helping those who had no-one else," the statement read.

They described her murder as "unforgivable," adding: "The gap she leaves will never be filled."

Mrs Hassan was driving to work as director of aid agency Care's Iraq operations when she was seized. The agency has since halted work in the country.

The 59-year-old, who has lived in Iraq for 30 years, appeared in several videos during her captivity calling for Britain to withdraw from Iraq, and for women prisoners to be freed.

AL-JAZEERA SAYS IT HAS VIDEO OF SLAYING

The Associated Press (AP) said kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan was believed to be dead Tuesday after a video received by Al-Jazeera television showed a hooded figure shooting a blindfolded woman in the head.

Hassan's family in London said they believed the longtime director of CARE in Iraq was the victim. CARE said it was in mourning for the 59-year-old Briton who worked for decades providing food, medicine and humanitarian aid to Iraqis.

The video shows a militant firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit, Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said. ''She was presumed to be Mrs. Hassan,'' he told The Associated Press.

The station initially said it would air parts of the video, but Ballout then said it would not.

Hassan was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19, the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year. Her captors later issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

Ballout said the station received the tape a few days ago but had not been sure of its authenticity.

''We invited British diplomatic officials to come and view it ... with the aim of helping us ascertain whether it was Mrs. Hassan or not,'' he said. ''It's now likely that the image depicts Mrs. Hassan.''

''It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the existence of a video in which it appears that our colleague Margaret Hassan has been killed,'' CARE said in a statement. ''The whole of CARE is in mourning.''

Her four brothers and sisters said they believe Hassan is dead.

''Our hearts are broken,'' they said in a statement released by the British Foreign Office. ''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 did not indicate why they now believed Hassan was dead, but said: ''Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses.''

On Sunday, U.S. Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman on a street in a Fallujah during the U.S. assault on the insurgent stronghold. Besides Hassan, the only Western woman known held was Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq who was seized last month.

Al-Jazeera reported on Nov. 2 that Hassan's captors had threatened to turn her over to followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al-Zarqawi and his men have been blamed for numerous deadly car bombings and the slayings of foreign hostages, including three Americans and a Briton. More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this year; more than 30 of them have been slain.

Born in Ireland, Hassan also held British and Iraqi citizenship. She lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi.

In its statement, her family said: ''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.''

FAMILY STATEMENT IN FULL

The following is the full text of a statement released by the brothers and sisters of aid worker Margaret Hassan, who they fear has been killed in Iraq by hostage takers.

The statement was issued at the request of Michael, Deirdre, Geraldine and Kathryn Fitzsimons by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office press office.

“Our hearts are broken. 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. Our prayers and thoughts are with our dear brother-in-law Tahseen. Margaret was a friend of the Arab world, to people of all religions.

“Her love of the Arab people started in the 1960s when she worked in Palestinian camps, living with the poorest of the poor and supporting the refugees.

“For the past 30 years, Margaret worked tirelessly for the Iraqi people. Margaret had only goodwill towards everyone. She had no prejudice against any creed. She dedicated her whole life to working for the poor and vulnerable, helping those who had no one else.

“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.”

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Garden Grove, CA. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in Sept., 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.