Leaders condemn 'Hassan murder'

Mrs Hassan had lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi
Political leaders have condemned the apparent murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan by her kidnappers in Iraq.
Tony Blair said it was "abhorrent", while Irish premier Bertie Ahern said her kidnappers "stand condemned by... the entire international community".

Mrs Hassan's husband has begged for the return of the body of his wife, who had Irish, British and Iraqi nationality.

A video showing a blindfolded woman being shot in the head has surfaced and has been checked by experts.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said they had concluded Mrs Hassan had "probably" been murdered.

He added: "To kidnap and kill anyone is inexcusable.

We now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended

"But it is repugnant to commit such a crime against a woman who has spent most of her life working for the good of the people of Iraq."

Mrs Hassan, 59, had lived in Iraq for 30 years.

She was seized by an unknown group in the Iraqi capital on 19 October.

Arabic TV news channel Al Jazeera said on Tuesday it had had a copy of the videotape showing her apparent killing for several days, but had chosen not to broadcast it.

The video apparently shows a man firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit.

A spokesman for Al Jazeera said he presumed the woman was the kidnapped aid worker.

Mrs Hassan's husband Tahseen has appealed to the kidnappers to return his wife's body.

He said: "I beg those people who took Margaret to tell me what they have done with her.


Mr Hassan made an emotional plea for her body to be returned

"They can tell me. They can call the helpline. I need her. I need her back to rest in peace."

Mrs Hassan's sisters and brother, Deirdre and Kathryn - who live in London - and Geraldine and Michael Fitzsimons, said in a statement their "hearts are broken".


They 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.

"She had no prejudice against any creed. She dedicated her whole life to working for the poor and vulnerable, helping those who had no-one else."

After Mrs Hassan was kidnapped, the aid worker's colleagues and family repeatedly pleaded for her release.

Canon Andrew White, who founded the Iraqi Centre for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace in Baghdad, was also involved in negotiations to get Margaret Hassan freed.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today her probable murder showed terrorism and the insurgency in Iraq was "totally out of control".


Margaret Hassan's life and the memory of her work will remain in millions of people's hearts for generations to come

"I doubt whether there's anybody else who has been so committed to Iraq and the people of Iraq for so long - she was almost revered in Iraqi society," he said.

Canon White pointed out that even the group led by extreme militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had apparently called for Mrs Hassan's release.

But he added: "We've got so many renegade new kind of terrorist operations that some of them have absolutely standards at all - that they would be willing to kill somebody who, in essence, was an Iraqi who has helped Iraqis for many years."

Mrs Hassan was filmed by her captors asking Tony Blair to pull British troops out of Iraq.

Mrs Hassan was driving to her job as director of Care International's Iraq operations when she was seized. The agency has since halted work in the country.

If her death is confirmed, she will be the first foreign female hostage to have been murdered in Iraq amid a recent wave of hostage-takings


I hope we will now have a minutes silence in this country like we did for ken bigley surely this lady was equally as worthy?

No? I doubt it too

Probablly the most dangerous country in the world at the moment, you would not catch me going over there for any amount of money or well doing. I advise any one not to travel to Iraq unless in the army and instructed to do so!

bit difficult seeing as she had lived there for 30 years.

War on terror - "Iraq a safer place since we invaded"

Tell that to her family and friends.
After 30 years living in Iraq, an illegal greed-motivated invasion has cost Margaret Hassan her life.

Tony Blair - I hope you feel proud this morning.

captainmorganrum said:

War on terror - "Iraq a safer place since we invaded"

Tell that to her family and friends.
After 30 years living in Iraq, an illegal greed-motivated invasion has cost Margaret Hassan her life.

Tony Blair - I hope you feel proud this morning.

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absolute short sighted tosh

Where are all the cry babies from yesterday blubbing at the killing of an Iraq soldier?Here we have an innocent WOMAN beheaded and all the dogooders will keep quiet.Give the american soldier a medal for doing his job(wether right or wrong) and lets see the BBC and all the other despicable lefties(many who trumpet on here) show the same disgust for this murder as the bleaters did yesterday.

LEWES CLIFF said:

Where are all the cry babies from yesterday blubbing at the killing of an Iraq soldier?Here we have an innocent WOMAN beheaded and all the dogooders will keep quiet.Give the american soldier a medal for doing his job(wether right or wrong) and lets see the BBC and all the other despicable lefties(many who trumpet on here) show the same disgust for this murder as the bleaters did yesterday.

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It wasn't an Iraqi soldier that was killed - Why should the American be given a medal?

LEWES CLIFF said:

Where are all the cry babies from yesterday blubbing at the killing of an Iraq soldier?Here we have an innocent WOMAN beheaded and all the dogooders will keep quiet.Give the american soldier a medal for doing his job(wether right or wrong) and lets see the BBC and all the other despicable lefties(many who trumpet on here) show the same disgust for this murder as the bleaters did yesterday.

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i agree with most of that apart from the giving the american a medal. thats why i posted it everyone was up in arms about ken bigley but no one is interested in this killing.

Unfortunately there are some weasel-faced toadies in the stinking corners of our own parliament who would rather make a fuss about an Iraqi insurgent feigning death and then trying to kill soldiers than they would talk about the tragic death of this women.

A letter I received in the post from a mate serving over there said the hardest thing to deal with was the emergence of surrender parties, under a white flag, then producng explosives and guns as they were being taken prisoner.

Soldiers life is tough but I have read more guff on here than anywhere else about the Iraq situation. My greatest fear is that at home, some day will come when the right-wing extremists begin to find fertile ground in our own society. In my opinion that will ultimately stem from the odious, pinko attitude to right and wrong that is poisoning our lives today.

Digweeds Trousers said:

Unfortunately there are some weasel-faced toadies in the stinking corners of our own parliament who would rather make a fuss about an Iraqi insurgent feigning death and then trying to kill soldiers than they would talk about the tragic death of this women.

A letter I received in the post from a mate serving over there said the hardest thing to deal with was the emergence of surrender parties, under a white flag, then producng explosives and guns as they were being taken prisoner.

Soldiers life is tough but I have read more guff on here than anywhere else about the Iraq situation. My greatest fear is that at home, some day will come when the right-wing extremists begin to find fertile ground in our own society. In my opinion that will ultimately stem from the odious, pinko attitude to right and wrong that is poisoning our lives today.

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blimey i agree

sensible post

Yes. We need more discipline. Tighten the knot of justice until those pinkos' eyes pop out! Justice! Order! Truth!

All quiet from London Irish and co maybe they only watch the news on days it suits them

This woman's death is horrendous, end of.

But the American soldiers, imvho, seem like a gung-ho bunch of ***** and doing what they did ON TV will only lead to more innocent women like Hassan die. The Yanks are stirring up so much MORE hatred for the West, that kidnappings and murders are going to rise and b4 long there will be another, possibly worse, 9/11.

So what is the answer? I haven't the foggiest! And that's the frightening thing. Where is the solution??

LEWES CLIFF said:

Where are all the cry babies from yesterday blubbing at the killing of an Iraq soldier?Here we have an innocent WOMAN beheaded and all the dogooders will keep quiet.Give the american soldier a medal for doing his job(wether right or wrong) and lets see the BBC and all the other despicable lefties(many who trumpet on here) show the same disgust for this murder as the bleaters did yesterday.

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I didn't say a thing yesterday but I would class myself as one of your 'dogooders'. To make you even more pissed I've worked with muslim communities both here and abroad for the last 20 years.

I am disgusted by the hassan murder and it's disgusting that these people are doing it in the name of religion (which is the 'excuse' to brainwash the young and easily-led) and are egged on by members of the religious heirarchy.

However it's no worse than what Bush or Blair are doing. I'm not going to say that the present situation is Blair and Bush's fault as I think Iraq was going to implode like this sooner or later anyway... in fact our invasion has actually meant that after all the illegal invasions and murders of civilians, somebody will care because if it had happened naturally it wouldn't have got anywhere near a front page.

I detest what we have done in the name of peace..... and I detest what has been done in the name of religion.

So the al-Zarqawi terrorists take hostages in return for Iraqi women prisoners being freed, and then another Iraqi terrorist group takes an Iraqi woman hostage and shoots her for...what?

It seems to be killing for the sake of killing.

LEWES CLIFF said:

All quiet from London Irish and co maybe they only watch the news on days it suits them

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You sanctimonious, ignorant fool. The killers of Margaret Hassan were the foreign fighters who weren't even in Iraq until before the invasion - the lawless chaos produced by the Americans has allowed them to flood into the country and kill and murder at will. Who should we f***ing well blame for that, then? Hassan lived for 30 YEARS in Iraq helping the people there until the disaster of this invasion.

London Irish said:

You sanctimonious, ignorant fool. The killers of Margaret Hassan were the foreign fighters who weren't even in Iraq until before the invasion - the lawless chaos produced by the Americans has allowed them to flood into the country and kill and murder at will. Who should we f***ing well blame for that, then? Hassan lived for 30 YEARS in Iraq helping the people there until the disaster of this invasion.

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You are absolutely right... and unfortunatetely also absolutely wrong. The saddest thing for Islamic communities in this country who hear this is that they cannot use this as an excuse. The foreign fighters are being brought in at the request of certain Iraqis trying to wrest power in the vaccum... and some of these are 'supposed' Muslim clerics.

And every foriegner who dies in the 'name of Iraq' (you me and the world knows how much rubbish this is) impresses every impresionable young Iraqi who hates the fact that a non-Muslim non-Iraqi is in control of their country.

Nothing is ever THAT simple Irish. I wish it was.

That's not my analysis, Sully. I think you are conflating the very different types of insurgents in Iraq. There are the foreign Al Quada types like Zaqawi who operate in the Sunni triangle who get their base of support from pissed off ex-Saddam regime members and other Iraqi nationalists. In the chaos, naive Iraqis will side with any one who hits "the invaders". The clerics, on the other hand, mainly have political influence over the Shia population who were oppressed under Saddam - they will have a big impact in the forthcoming elections, Al Sadr and his types.

But if I have this wrong, then I apologise - but I'd like to know who the Muslim clerics are you are talking about who are acting as cover for Zaqawi. Give me a few names and I'll try and read up about them.

London Irish said:

That's not my analysis, Sully. I think you are conflating the very different types of insurgents in Iraq. There are the foreign Al Quada types like Zaqawi who operate in the Sunni triangle who get their base of support from pissed off ex-Saddam regime members and other Iraqi nationalists. In the chaos these naive people will side with any one who hits "the invaders". The clerics, on the other hand, mainly have politica influence over the Shia population who were oppressed under Saddam.

But if I have this wrong, then I apologise - but I'd like to know who the Muslim clerics are you are talking about who are acting as cover for Zaqawi. Give me a few names and I'll try and read up about them.

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I can't put names at the mo but will try and find out at the weekend.... it isn't that easy as many of these people stay as shadow figures in the background. However, you are right that the Iraqi Sunnis are less organised on the Iraqi side than the Shia are.... but the basic point is that Shia and Sunni are Iraqis and what we are watching now is something that was going to happen... Shia and Sunni at loggerheads attempting to get control of Iraq... the good news is that they are not so much shooting each other as Americans are a greater evil... and us unfortunately. But every Muslim there and in this country knows that the bloodshed won't stop when the Americans and British leave.... another example of a peace imposed to start all wars?