WAR: UK Charity Worker Kidnapped in Iraq

Although unable to confirm or give details, a spokesman for the Foreign Office is claiming to have recieved news from the Iraqi embassy that a charity worker for CARE international was kidnapped early this morning in Iraq.


It is being reported the the charity worker was not a Briton, but an Iraqi national, living in the country for at least a decade. Officials are seeking to confirm the kidnapping and investigating what happened.

UPDATE

The kidnapped woman, Margaret Hassan, has worked with CARE international since the early 1990's and has lived in Iraq for at least 30 years. CARE as well as a few other international aid agencies has continued it's presence in Iraq, even after 2 Italian women were kidnapped for 2 weeks in September.

This kidnapping follows the kidnapping of 2 american's and one british man, who were beheaded.


[edit on 22-10-2004 by Banshee]

it has been reported on BBC/Sky etc that she is british but married to a iraqi and has lived in iraq working for the charity care international for over 10 years.

I have updated this first post.

Have any women been beheaded yet? It seems that the women are usually allowed to go free. Is there something in their religion that doesn't allow them to execute captured women in war?

I just heard about this on the radio and apperentlyy she has Irish connections. There was talk of granting Ken Bigley Irish citizenship back then so that he would have a better chance of being let go or something but I can't see how thats going to help get anywhere.

i really think they are cowards to kidnap a women or men for that matter that have not done anything to them. i hope US or UK forces get these guys if she is freed or not (wich i really hope she is freed)

I've said this before but I'll be surprised if they do kill her. They haven't made any demands or threats to her or said whom they are. So I think she has a good chance of being released alive and well jut look at the two Italian women for a start and how many women have been kidnapped compared to men. I think their just showing how easy it is for them to do this type of thing and it�s basically a hello and wake up call.

Iraq hostages: Facts and figures
Profile: Margaret Hassan
Security fears for Iraq Britons


[edit on 19/10/2004 by SE7EN]

Why does anyone think that women are special to these BARBARIANS?

Did they consider them when they destroyed the World Trade Center, the women on the airplanes they used, or the women in any of the embassies they have bombed?? NO! NO! NO!

These animals do not care about any human life, not yours, not the people that C.A.R.E. for them, nor even themselves or their countrymen/women.

These people need to be expunged from the face of the earth and the quicker the better for the rest of humanity!!

CARE International has now suspended its operation in Iraq. Margaret Hassan's Iraqi husband has asked her capture to free her "in the name of humanity, Islam and brotherhood." Hassan hold British, Irish, and Iraqi citizenship.

In a videotape shown by Al-Jazeera Hassan is shown in a bare room sitting tensely, there is no audio on the tape. The group who kidnapped Hassan and her campanion have not identified themselves or given any demands for her release.