Hassan remembered at memorial service

The “martyrdom” of murdered aid worker Margaret Hassan was honoured in a memorial service to her today.

The 59-year-old’s family were joined by more than 2,000 worshippers in London’s Westminster Cathedral to pay tribute to the woman brutally killed in Iraq last month.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, led the requiem mass as family and friends paid their own farewell tribute.

A message from Margaret’s family read: “She was brave, she was charitable, she was humble and hardworking.

“Yes, she was all of these things, but most of all she was our big sister.”

In a moving and sombre service Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said of the courageous care worker: “I have called Margaret a martyr. I use the word advisedly because the word martyr means witness.

“Margaret witnessed, in both her life and her death, to the act of loving.”

Irish-born Mrs Hassan, the director of CARE International in Iraq, was kidnapped by gunmen on October 19 while on her way to work in western Baghdad.

The following month Arab television said it had received a videotape showing what is believed to have been her brutal murder.

Among the mourners in the historic Catholic cathedral were Mrs Hassan’s sisters Deirdre, Geraldine and Kathryn and her brother Michael.

Mrs Hassan’s husband, Tahseen, could not make the service due to ill health.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said Margaret’s death was brought about “through the cruel and violent actions of human beings”.