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Kidnapping and killing of Margaret Hassan

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 137.222.10.67 (talk) at 23:19, 17 November 2004 (Past tense - it now seems to have been accepted that she was murdered). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:Margaret Hassan.jpg
Margaret Hassan had been an aid worker in Iraq for more than 30 years.

Margaret Hassan was an aid worker, born in Dublin in 1945 to parents Peter and Mary Fitzsimons. She was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq on October 19, 2004 and apparently killed. A Muslim with an Iraqi husband, she had joint British, Irish, and Iraqi citizenship. She had been living in the country for 30 years and was the head of operations for the humanitarian relief organisation CARE International in Iraq. She was opposed to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, believing it would precipitate a humanitarian crisis.

Her kidnappers did not issue any specific demands, but in a video released of her in captivity she pleaded for the withdrawal of British troops. She stated that "these might be [her] last hours", "Please help me. The British people, tell Mr Blair to take the troops out of Iraq and not bring them here to Baghdad" and that she did not "Want to die like Bigley", a reference to Kenneth Bigley who was beheaded in Iraq only weeks earlier.

CARE International has suspended operations in Iraq because of Ms. Hassan's kidnapping. Patients of an Iraqi hospital (where her work had some effect) have taken to the streets in protest against the hostage takers' actions. On 25 October, between 100 and 200 Iraqis protested outside CARE's offices in Baghdad, demanding her release. Prominent elements of the Iraqi resistance, such as the Shura Council of Fallujah Mujahedeen, condemned the kidnapping and had called for her release.

On 2 November, Al Jazeera reported that the kidnappers threatened to hand her over to the group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who were responsible for the murder of Kenneth Bigley.

File:Margarethassan.jpg
Margaret Hassan in a video released by her captors

On 6 November, a statement purportedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi appeared on an Islamist website calling for the release of Ms. Hassan unless the kidnappers had information she was aligned with the invading coalition. However, the statement could not immediately be authenticated. Ms. Hassan's whereabouts are unknown in the video.

On 15 November, U.S. Marines in Fallujah uncovered the body of an unidentified blonde- or grey-haired woman with her legs and arms cut off and throat slit. The body could not be immediately identified, but two foreign women are known to be missing in Iraq: Margaret Hassan, and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born long-time resident of Iraq. The latter woman is known to have blonde hair.

On 16 November, CNN reported that 'CARE' had issued a statement [1] indicating that the organization was aware of a videotape allegedly showing Hassan's murder. The British Foreign Office has yet to confirm the tape as genuine. Al-Jazeera reported that it had received a tape allegedly showing Ms. Hassan's murder but was unable to confirm its authenticity. The video shows a woman, referred to as Hassan, being shot with a handgun by a masked man.

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