Shock & Anger Reverberates Around the World at Iraq Hostage Killing

Britain has reacted with shock and outrage at the execution video of veteran aid worker Margaret Hassan, which has come a month after she was kidnapped in Baghdad. Her body has yet to be found, but if confirmed will mean that Hassan will be the first foreign female to have been murdered in Iraq, and the second British national.

The apparent murder has come amid a flurry of kidnappings and murders in Iraq, which have frightened off many aid agencies from the country.

Al-Jazeera, the Arabic television channel, said on Tuesday that it had received a video showing “an armed man shooting a blind-folded woman, who appears to be Margaret Hassan.”

Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary confirmed that the woman killed was believed to be Hassan, who had headed CARE international’s Iraq operations, but was tragically apprehended on October 19th on her way to work.

Straw commented, “Our experts have been examining the video which appeared to show that Margaret Hassan has been murdered, to establish whether it is genuine. 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 reacted with great shock and expressed his 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.

The husband of the victim, Tahseen Hassan’s reaction was to plead with the kidnappers to let him know where he could recover her body.

In a heart-wrenching emotion-charged statement he said, “Margaret lived with me in Iraq for 30 years. She dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people. Please, now, please return her to me.”

Margaret Hassan was an aid worker in Iraq for more than 25 years, and passionately spoke out against the war in Iraq last year. She visited New York, USA in January 2003 to warn the United Nations Security Council of the “humanitarian catastrophe” that she feared could follow a war in Iraq.

It is not just Britons that have been outraged by Hassan’s kidnapping and execution, but Iraqi civilians, clearly touched by the CARE workers diligent efforts for the Iraqi people over the past decades, let their sympathies be well known. They had called for her release, and consistently held rallies in Baghdad with banners referring to her as “Mama Margaret”.

The former British ambassador to Iraq, and former chairman of CARE International, Sir Harold Walker said “One has to say, how can people sink so low? But I suppose it was the nihilistic end of the kidnappings in Iraq, that they just wanted to get anyone who looked like a non-Iraqi face...to try to prove, as they see it, that Iraq is ungovernable in its present state.”

Hassan’s siblings said, “Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses. Her love of the Arab people started in the 1960’s when she worked in Palestinian camps, living with the poorest of the poor. For the past 30 years. Margaret worked tirelessly for the Iraqi people.”

CARE International stated, “Through her courage, tenacity and commitment, Mrs Hassan assisted more than 17 million Iraqis living in the most difficult of circumstances. Everyone who met her was touched by her personality and compassion.”

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, spoke of his “sadness and horror” at the murder.

“Margaret is a martyr for the goodness, truth and generosity,” said O’Connor, the highest ranking Roman Catholic cleric in England. “She dedicated her life to others, she will always be remembered for this.”

Churches throughout Ireland, where Hassan was born, will hold a special Mass in dedication to the life of the CARE International aid-worker.

Meanwhile charity and aid organisations said the killing is likely to prevent help reaching Iraqi civilians, and many have stated that the only way to work in the country now in “undercover”.

Those agencies brave enough to remain in the country now move clandestinely in unmarked lorries, pretending to other work.

However, most aid agencies have now pulled out of the country. The European Commission has agreed to give £200 million of aid but refuses to now send staff into Iraq.

Christian Aid has also now banned its staff from Iraq but will work by “remote control” from other countries.

Oxfam, World Vision, Save the Children, Medicins Sans Frontieres and CARE International have all suspended their operations in the violence-plagued country.