BAGHDAD, Iraq – Margaret Hassan, the British aid worker kidnapped after decades of helping Iraqis, is believed to have been murdered by her captors, a British government official said Tuesday, based on a video that showed a hooded militant shooting a blindfolded woman in the head.
No other female hostage is known to have been killed in the wave of kidnappings that have beset Iraq.
More than 170 foreigners have been abducted this year, and at least 34 killed. One woman – a Polish-Iraqi citizen – remains a hostage.
Hassan’s family in London said the longtime director of CARE in Iraq was likely the victim, and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said analysis of the video received by Al-Jazeera television showed Hassan has “probably been murdered, although we cannot conclude this with complete certainty.”
In an emotional appeal on Al-Jazeera, Hassan’s Iraqi husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan, said he had heard of the video but did not know whether it was authentic.
“I appeal to those who took my wife (to tell me) what they did with her. … I want my wife, dead or alive. If she is dead, please let me know of her whereabouts so I can bury her in peace,” he said, his voice choked with tears.
The video shows a hooded militant firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman wearing an orange jumpsuit, said Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout. The station received the tape a few days ago but had not been sure of its authenticity until recently, he said.
Hassan, 59, was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19 on her way to work. Her captors issued a series of videos showing her weeping and pleading for Britons to act to save her. In one video, she fainted and a bucket of water was thrown on her to revive her.
In one video, she begged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq and called for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.
On Sunday, U.S. Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman on a street in a Fallujah during the U.S. assault on the insurgent stronghold. The U.S. command said the body had not been identified as of Tuesday night.
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