The kidnappers of aid worker Margaret Hassan threatened to turn her over to al-Qaeda-linked militants notorious for beheading hostages unless Britain agreed within 48 hours to pull its troops from Iraq, Al-Jazeera television reported.
Al-Jazeera broadcast only the portion of the video that showed a hooded gunman, but did not air the sound. The newscaster said the kidnappers gave Britain 48 hours to meet their demands, "primarily the withdrawal" of British troops.
Otherwise, the 59-year-old Hassan will be handed over to al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. His followers have beheaded at least six hostages: three Americans, a Briton, a Japanese and a South Korean. The US has offered a US$25 million reward for al-Zarqawi's capture or killing -- the same amount as for Osama bin Laden.
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office and the British Foreign Office both declined to comment on the reported demand. Britain has 8,500 troops in Iraq, the second-largest contingent after the US.
Word of the tape first came from Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who told his parliament it showed the Dublin-born Hassan pleading for her life directly to the camera before suddenly fainting, according to the British news agency Press Association.
Ahern, who had not seen the video, said a bucket of water is then thrown over Hassan's head and she is filmed lying wet and helpless on the ground before getting up and crying, PA quoted him as saying.
Ahern described the text of the video as "distressing" and said "there were a number of very dangerous and very serious timescales stated."
Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said from Doha, Qatar: "Yes, we have received a tape, but we decided not to air it because we believe it's too graphic."
It was the first time a deadline was set in Hassan's abduction.
Hassan, an Irish-British-Iraqi citizen who heads CARE International in Iraq, was abducted last month from her car in Baghdad. No group has claimed responsibility for her kidnapping and there was no sign on the brief broadcast of any banner identifying who held her.
Her captors previously released three videos of Hassan, and in two of them she pleads for her life, saying she fears she will be beheaded. But she does not say when, and none of her kidnappers have appeared in any of the tapes.
Earlier Tuesday, Ahern met Hassan's three sisters and issued a joint appeal for her release.
Standing beside Ahern, Hassan's sister, Deirdre Fitzsimons, addressed her captors directly.
"We are the Irish family of Margaret and we are pleading with you to set her free," she said.
Ahern, whose country is militarily neutral and officially opposes the US-led occupation of Iraq, stressed that Hassan was a particularly inappropriate target.
"Margaret has no political associations. She represents nobody but the vulnerable and the poor," Ahern said. "Your quarrel is not with Margaret. Nor is it with the Irish people, who have been a firm friend of the Arab nations."
Iraqi police meanwhile yesterday said a Lebanese American contractor was kidnapped overnight from his Baghdad home.
Lieutenant Colonel Maan Khalaf said the contractor, who works for the US Army in the Green Zone, was snatched from his home in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Mansour Tuesday around midnight.
Khalaf said armed gunmen knocked at the door to his home and seized him when he answered the door. There were apparently no guards at the time of the attack and no gunfire, he said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman identified the contractor as Lebanese American Radim Sadeq, a contractor in a mobile phone company.
The US Embassy said yesterday it was checking on reports of the kidnapping but could not confirm an American was taken.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga