Britain outraged by execution

2004-11-17 12:40

London - Britain reacted with shock and outrage on Wednesday at the apparent execution on video of veteran aid worker Margaret Hassan, a month after she was kidnapped in Baghdad.

If her death is confirmed - and her body has yet to be found - Hassan will be the first foreign female to have been murdered in Iraq, and the second British national, amid a recent wave of hostage-taking.

Al-Jazeera said on Tuesday it had received a video showing "an armed man shooting at a blind-folded woman, who appears to be Margaret Hassan".

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was believed the woman killed in the video was Hassan, 59, head of Care International's Iraq operations, who was seized in Baghdad on October 19 while on her way to work.

Examining a video

"Our experts have been examining a video which appeared to show that Margaret Hassan has been murdered, to establish whether it is genuine," he said in a brief statement.

"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."

Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed condolences to Hassan's family, saying he "shares their abhorrence at the cruel treatment of someone who devoted so many years of their life to helping the people of Iraq," a spokesperson said.

Hassan's Iraqi husband, Tahseen Hassan, pleaded with the kidnappers to let him know where he could recover her body.

"Margaret lived with me in Iraq for 30 years," he said in an emotional statement. "She dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people. Please, now, please return her to me."

Hassan was among the best known victims in a scourge of kidnappings that has plagued Iraq in recent months, but her case was markedly different to those of foreign journalists and contractors more commonly targeted.

Iraqis called for her release

She had been an aid worker in Iraq for more than 25 years, and a vehement and vocal opponent of last year's United States-led war to topple Saddam Hussein and the crippling sanctions that preceded it for more than a decade.

A fluent Arabic speaker, and naturalised Iraqi, Hassen went to New York in January 2003 to warn members of the United Nations Security Council of the "humanitarian catastrophe" that she feared could follow a war.

Her kidnapping sparked an outpouring of sympathy from Iraqi civilians, who called for her release and held a rally in Baghdad with banners referring to her as "Mama Margaret".

Felicity Arbuthnot, a friend of Hassan, told BBC radio Wednesday that news of her murder had not come as a surprise, coming as it did against the backdrop of the US assault on Fallujah city.

Sir Harold Walker, a former British ambassador to Iraq and former chairman of Care International, said he thought Hassan's kidnappers had a "nihilistic" demonstrating of showing that Iraq was ungovernable.

- AFP