Care International suspended operations in Iraq yesterday after gunmen seized the woman who ran the humanitarian organization's work in the country. The victim's Iraqi husband appealed to the kidnappers to free her "in the name of humanity, Islam and brotherhood."
Margaret Hassan, who holds British, Irish and Iraqi citizenship, was seized early on Tuesday on her way to work in western Baghdad after gunmen blocked her route and dragged the driver and a companion from the car, her husband said.
PHOTO: AP
Hassan, who is in her early 60s, is among the most widely known humanitarian officials in the Middle East and is also the most high-profile figure to fall victim to a wave of kidnappings sweeping Iraq in recent months.
The Arab television station al-Jazeera broadcast a brief video showing Hassan, wearing a white blouse and appearing tense, sitting in a room with bare white walls. An editor at the station, based in Qatar, said the tape contained no audio. It did not identify what group was holding her and contained no demand for her release.
Iraqi officials refused comment on the case, citing the need for security to protect her life.
"I would like to tell the kidnappers that we are in the holy month of Ramadan and my wife has been helping Iraq since 30 years and loved this country," her husband Tahseen Ali Hassan said yesterday on al-Arabiya television. "In the name of humanity, Islam and brotherhood, I appeal to the kidnapers to free her because she has nothing to do with politics."
The husband told al-Jazeera his wife had not received threats and that the kidnappers had not contacted anyone with any demands as of Tuesday night.
Hassan has lived in Baghdad for 30 years, helping supply medicines and other humanitarian aid and speaking out about Iraqis' suffering under international sanctions during the 1990s.
Early yesterday, CARE Australia, which coordinates the international agency's Iraq operations, announced it had suspended operations because of the abduction, but it said staff would not be evacuated. It was unclear how many non-Iraqis work for CARE here.
Many non-governmental organizations began withdrawing international staffers after attacks on foreigners and their institutions began in earnest last summer.
"Our staff are not operating currently there, they're certainly not working there now in light of the current situation," Robert Glasser, CARE Australia's chief executive officer, told ABC radio.
CARE said Hassan was born in Britain, but the British and Irish foreign offices said she was born in Ireland, which is not part of the US-led coalition in Iraq. When the kidnappers sent the tape to al-Jazeera, they said they had abducted a "British aid worker," according to the station.
Militants have kidnapped at least seven other women over the past six months, but all were later released.
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