Hassan likely dead, but no body

2004-12-01 18:48

London - Britain said on Wednesday it believed kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan was likely dead, even though dental records proved a body found in Iraq wasn't hers.

The Foreign Office said dental tests were conducted on a mutilated body found in Fallujah by US marines, who believed it was that of a Western woman.

A Foreign Office spokesman said dental tests carried out in the United States by the American authorities showed it wasn't Hassan's body.

Tests couldn't identify body

He said he believed the tests couldn't identify the body.

The belief that Hassan was likely dead was based on a video apparently showing the execution of a Western woman, he said. Hassan was a British citizen born in Ireland.

The Foreign Office spokesman maintained that the woman in the video was likely Hassan and that she is probably dead.

Hassan, 59, was abducted in Baghdad on October 19 on her way to work, the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year.

Pleading with Tony Blair

Her captors later issued videos showing her pleading for Britain, specifically Prime Minister Tony Blair, to withdraw troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

US Marines found a mutilated body on a street in a Fallujah on November 14 during the US assault on the insurgent stronghold.

The body, clothed in what appeared to be a purple velour dress, was wrapped in a blanket, with a blood-soaked black cloth nearby.

It could not be immediately identified but US officials said they believed it was that of a Western woman.

Another possibility ruled out

Besides Hassan, the only Western woman known to be held in Iraq was Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq who was seized in October.

Khalifa reappeared on November 20 after being released.

The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera said it had received a video showing a hooded militant shooting a blindfolded woman in the head.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said analysis of the video showed Hassan has "probably been murdered, although we cannot conclude this with complete certainty."

Hassan's family have also said they believe she is dead.

- SAPA