Iraq aid worker Hassan believed dead LONDON (AP) — Al-Jazeera television said Tuesday it received a videotape showing the slaying of a woman believed to be hostage Margaret Hassan. Hassan's family in London said they believed she was dead.
The station planned to broadcast parts of the video later Tuesday.
Jihad Ballout, Al-Jazeera spokesman, said the station received the tape a few days ago but held off airing it until it was convinced the woman was Hassan.
A statement from Hassan's four brothers and sisters was released by Britain's Foreign Office.
AP Hassan
"Our hearts are broken," it said. "We have kept hoping for as long as we could, but we now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended."
The family did not indicate why they now believed Hassan was dead, but said: "Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses."
Hassan, the director of CARE international in Iraq, was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19. Her captors later issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.
On Nov. 2, Al-Jazeera television reported her abductors had threatened to turn her over to followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Zarqawi and his men have been blamed for numerous deadly car bombings and the slayings of foreign hostages. More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this year; more than 30 of them have been slain.
Hassan lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi. She was a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq.
In its statement, her family said: "Nobody can justify this. Margaret was against sanctions and the war. To commit such a crime against anyone is unforgivable. But we cannot believe how anybody could do this to our kind, compassionate sister.
"The gap she leaves will never be filled."
I wonder if hers were the remains found by that American patrol in Fallujah the other day?
The station planned to broadcast parts of the video later Tuesday.
Jihad Ballout, Al-Jazeera spokesman, said the station received the tape a few days ago but held off airing it until it was convinced the woman was Hassan.
A statement from Hassan's four brothers and sisters was released by Britain's Foreign Office.
AP Hassan "Our hearts are broken," it said. "We have kept hoping for as long as we could, but we now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended."
The family did not indicate why they now believed Hassan was dead, but said: "Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses."
Hassan, the director of CARE international in Iraq, was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19. Her captors later issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.
On Nov. 2, Al-Jazeera television reported her abductors had threatened to turn her over to followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Zarqawi and his men have been blamed for numerous deadly car bombings and the slayings of foreign hostages. More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this year; more than 30 of them have been slain.
Hassan lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi. She was a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq.
In its statement, her family said: "Nobody can justify this. Margaret was against sanctions and the war. To commit such a crime against anyone is unforgivable. But we cannot believe how anybody could do this to our kind, compassionate sister.
"The gap she leaves will never be filled."
I wonder if hers were the remains found by that American patrol in Fallujah the other day?
