Hassan's husband pleas to kidnappers

With the Baghdad kidnappers of Irish-born charity chief Margaret Hassan still remaining silent, her husband made another plea for her release today.

Tahseen Ali Hassan addressed the kidnappers in the Iraqi capital: “Release my wife. She’s Iraqi, she’s working for a humanitarian organisation and I ask you to release her.”

Margaret Hassan, the head of operations in Iraq for the humanitarian group CARE International, was abducted on her way to work on Tuesday by gunmen who blocked her route and dragged the driver and a companion from the car, said her husband.

At a press conference, her husband, a retired Iraqi economist, said no group has claimed responsibility for her abduction and he did not know if she was taken by a religious or political group.

Mr Hassan said he expects his wife is “nervous of course” but called her “a strong lady”. He said he was surprised when he was told of the kidnapping.

“I was really shocked, I couldn’t believe it myself. She’s not involved in politics or religion,” he said.

“I’m shattered, I haven’t slept” since she was taken.

Mrs Hassan, who is in her early 60s, has worked in Iraq for three decades and is among the most widely known humanitarian officials in the Middle East.

She holds Irish, British and Iraqi citizenship, and is the most high-profile figure to fall victim to a wave of kidnappings sweeping Iraq in recent months. CARE International has suspended its operations in Iraq.

Arab television station Al-Jazeera has broadcast a brief video showing Mrs Hassan, wearing a white blouse and appearing tense, sitting in a room with bare white walls. The video did not identify what group was holding her and contained no demand for her release.