Aid Worker Kidnapping results in CARE Suspending work in Iraq

Insecurity in Iraq has further raised concern as another case of abduction occurred yesterday, just two weeks after the tragic execution of the last hostage, a British engineer Kenneth Bigley.

The victim, Margaret Hassan, is CARE International’s Country Director in Iraq, who has devoted herself to providing humanitarian relief to the people of Iraq in a professional career spanning more than 25 years. Hassan has joint British-Iraqi citizenship. She was born in Dublin and married to an Iraqi and has lived in Iraq for 30 years.

The incident was revealed on Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network, showing Hassan in the video with her hands tied behind her back and appearing anxious. The footage showed a visa card in her name, three CARE identification cards and an export-import license card. Sources said she was kidnapped by an unnamed group on her way to work in Baghdad at around 7:30 am local time on Tuesday 19th October.

Hassan’s employers, CARE International Australia, has confirmed the misfortune. The Head of CARE International Australia, Robert Glasser, announced formally to the international media yesterday that the agency has decided to suspend its Iraq programmes temporarily in the current circumstances.

The organisation is believed to have around 30 Iraqi staff working in its Baghdad office. Foreign workers were pulled out of Iraq last November.

CARE International acknowledged Hassan’s commitment in continuing to assist those most in need despite the dangerous post-war environment. It stated, “We are doing everything in our power, everything that’s humanly possible to secure Margaret’s release. It’s a very difficult situation.” The agency is also unaware of any motive for the abduction and knows that Hassan is unharmed so far.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said news of the kidnapping was “a very disturbing development... This just demonstrates the depths to which these terrorists will go.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the kidnapping, “I think it shows you the type of people we are up against, that they are prepared to kidnap somebody like this.” In the Commons, Blair said the whole of the House was thinking of Mrs Hassan and everything was being done to secure her release.

Tory leader Michael Howard added his party’s “thoughts and prayers” were with her family.

Islamic Relief USA, part of the Islamic Relief Worldwide charity and development group, called for the release of Margaret Hassan. Speaking to Assist News Service, Arif Shaikh, a spokesman for the Burbank, California-based Islamic Relief USA said, “We call on Mrs Hassan’s captives to recall the humanitarian work she has been doing in Iraq for over 25 years and release her so she can carry on her good work.”

As the holy Islamic month of Ramadan began last Friday, which “is a month of mercy, and a month of charity”, he stressed, “It is during this month that the work of Mrs Hassan and CARE should be increased. We hope Mrs Hassan remains unharmed and is safely released to her family.”

CARE International, with its secretariat in Belgium, is one of the largest independent global relief and development organisations in the world, operating in more than 72 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. It is one of the few international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to remain in Iraq.