Husband appeals to kidnappers
2004-10-20 14:30
Dubai - The husband of Margaret Hassan, the abducted head of international relief agency Care in Baghdad, issued an appeal to her kidnappers on Arabic television on Wednesday.
"My wife has no involvement in political affairs. Her activities are purely humanitarian and are aimed at helping the Iraqi people, people she has helped for the last 30 years," Tahsin Ali Hassan said on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television from Baghdad.
Margaret Hassan, who was born in Dublin and also has British and Iraq nationality, was taken hostage on Tuesday as she drove to her office in Baghdad. She has worked for Care International since 1992.
She appeared later in the day in a video on Arab-language satellite television channel Al-Jazeera, seated on a sofa and looking unharmed but visibly distressed. It is still unclear who is holding her.
Care International on Wednesday halted relief work in Iraq after Hassan's kidnapping which further fuelled fears that aid workers were becoming preferred soft targets for hostage-takers.
- AFP