Post by Taxigirl on Nov 17, 2004 9:32:07 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4018335.stm
Political leaders have condemned the apparent murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan by her kidnappers in Iraq.
Tony Blair said it was "abhorrent", while Irish premier Bertie Ahern said her kidnappers "stand condemned by... the entire international community".
Mrs Hassan's husband has begged for the return of the body of his wife, who had Irish, British and Iraqi nationality.
A video showing a blindfolded woman being shot in the head has surfaced and has been checked by experts.
Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera said on Tuesday it had had a copy of the videotape showing her apparent killing for several days, but had chosen not to broadcast it.
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said they had concluded Mrs Hassan had "probably" been murdered.
He added: "To kidnap and kill anyone is inexcusable.
"But it is repugnant to commit such a crime against a woman who has spent most of her life working for the good of the people of Iraq."
Mrs Hassan, 59, had lived in Iraq for 30 years and had converted to Islam.
She was seized by an unknown group in the Iraqi capital on 19 October.
Appeal to kidnappers
Mrs Hassan's husband Tahseen has appealed to the kidnappers to tell him the whereabouts of his wife's body.
He said: "They can tell me. They can call the helpline. I need her. I need her back to rest in peace."
Mrs Hassan's sisters and brother, Deirdre and Kathryn - who live in London - and Geraldine and Michael Fitzsimons, said in a statement their "hearts are broken".
Mr Hassan made an emotional plea for her body to be returned
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.
After Mrs Hassan was kidnapped, the aid worker's colleagues and family repeatedly pleaded for her release.
Canon Andrew White was also involved in the negotiations.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today her probable murder showed terrorism and the insurgency in Iraq was "totally out of control".
"I doubt whether there's anybody else who has been so committed to Iraq and the people of Iraq for so long - she was almost revered in Iraqi society," he said.
'Revered' in Iraq
Canon White pointed out that even the group led by extreme militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had apparently called for Mrs Hassan's release but that some new terrorist operations had "absolutely no standards at all".
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said Mrs Hassan's presumed death was "a violation of the most basic value of Muslim mercy".
Meanwhile, a friend of Margaret Hassan, Felicity Arbuthnot, told Today she "had a broken heart" after hearing reports of her death.
But she said she had felt Mrs Hassan was "doomed" after the military offensive began in Falluja and she had been claimed by the British government.
Margaret Hassan was filmed by her captors asking Tony Blair to pull British troops out of Iraq.
She was driving to her job as director of Care International's Iraq operations when she was seized. The agency has since halted work in the country.
Sir Harold Walker, former British ambassador to Iraq and former chairman of the board of Care International, told Radio Five Live Mrs Hassan did "superb work" in Iraq and was one of his "heroines".
Sir Harold said he believed her kidnappers wanted to show that Iraq was ungovernable in its current state.
"It's a nihilistic aim," he added.
If Mrs Hassan's death is confirmed, she will be the first foreign female hostage to have been murdered in Iraq amid a recent wave of hostage-takings.
Political leaders have condemned the apparent murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan by her kidnappers in Iraq.
Tony Blair said it was "abhorrent", while Irish premier Bertie Ahern said her kidnappers "stand condemned by... the entire international community".
Mrs Hassan's husband has begged for the return of the body of his wife, who had Irish, British and Iraqi nationality.
A video showing a blindfolded woman being shot in the head has surfaced and has been checked by experts.
Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera said on Tuesday it had had a copy of the videotape showing her apparent killing for several days, but had chosen not to broadcast it.
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said they had concluded Mrs Hassan had "probably" been murdered.
He added: "To kidnap and kill anyone is inexcusable.
"But it is repugnant to commit such a crime against a woman who has spent most of her life working for the good of the people of Iraq."
Mrs Hassan, 59, had lived in Iraq for 30 years and had converted to Islam.
She was seized by an unknown group in the Iraqi capital on 19 October.
Appeal to kidnappers
Mrs Hassan's husband Tahseen has appealed to the kidnappers to tell him the whereabouts of his wife's body.
He said: "They can tell me. They can call the helpline. I need her. I need her back to rest in peace."
Mrs Hassan's sisters and brother, Deirdre and Kathryn - who live in London - and Geraldine and Michael Fitzsimons, said in a statement their "hearts are broken".
Mr Hassan made an emotional plea for her body to be returned
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.
After Mrs Hassan was kidnapped, the aid worker's colleagues and family repeatedly pleaded for her release.
Canon Andrew White was also involved in the negotiations.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today her probable murder showed terrorism and the insurgency in Iraq was "totally out of control".
"I doubt whether there's anybody else who has been so committed to Iraq and the people of Iraq for so long - she was almost revered in Iraqi society," he said.
'Revered' in Iraq
Canon White pointed out that even the group led by extreme militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had apparently called for Mrs Hassan's release but that some new terrorist operations had "absolutely no standards at all".
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said Mrs Hassan's presumed death was "a violation of the most basic value of Muslim mercy".
Meanwhile, a friend of Margaret Hassan, Felicity Arbuthnot, told Today she "had a broken heart" after hearing reports of her death.
But she said she had felt Mrs Hassan was "doomed" after the military offensive began in Falluja and she had been claimed by the British government.
Margaret Hassan was filmed by her captors asking Tony Blair to pull British troops out of Iraq.
She was driving to her job as director of Care International's Iraq operations when she was seized. The agency has since halted work in the country.
Sir Harold Walker, former British ambassador to Iraq and former chairman of the board of Care International, told Radio Five Live Mrs Hassan did "superb work" in Iraq and was one of his "heroines".
Sir Harold said he believed her kidnappers wanted to show that Iraq was ungovernable in its current state.
"It's a nihilistic aim," he added.
If Mrs Hassan's death is confirmed, she will be the first foreign female hostage to have been murdered in Iraq amid a recent wave of hostage-takings.