Aid Worker Women Officially Dead

[Fire Fly]

CNN

Family heartbreak over Hassan fate
Tuesday, November 16, 2004 Posted: 6:50 PM EST (2350 GMT)

(CNN) -- The family of Margaret Hassan, director of CARE International in Iraq, said their "hearts were broken" Tuesday after hearing of her apparent death at the hands of her captors.

Looking gaunt, her Iraqi husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan, said, "I have been told that there is a video of Margaret which appears to show her murdered. The video may be genuine but I do not know. I beg those people who took Margaret to tell me what they have done with her."

Hassan's wife was kidnapped on October 19 by a group that did not identify itself. Videotapes surfaced Tuesday purportedly showing her killing.

Arab network Al-Jazeera reported, "Al-Jazeera has obtained a video showing a masked militant shooting a blindfolded woman, who was referred to as Margaret Hassan, in the head using a handgun. Al-Jazeera decided to wait on reporting the news until it confirmed the authenticity of the tape."

Al-Jazeera did not show the video. ......

(and......jump ahead)

.....Hassan also called for the release of all female prisoners in Iraq and urged CARE's board of directors to end operations in Iraq, an action they already had taken.

Hassan's pleas are not heard in the tape, but an anchor for Al-Jazeera described the contents of her message. Five days earlier, a videotape of Hassan shows her tearfully urging Blair to pull troops from Iraq.

Hassan was kidnapped on the street shortly after she arrived at her office. Her abductors never explained why she was targeted.