Murdered aid worker's husband to accept peace prize

The Iraqi husband of murdered aid worker Margaret Hassan is arriving in Ireland this week to accept the country’s most prestigious peace prize on her behalf.

Irish-born Mrs Hassan, 59, spent nearly half her life delivering food and medicine in Iraq, where she had lived for 30 years.

She was kidnapped in Baghdad in October last year and a month later a video of her apparent murder was released, although her body was never found.

Tasheen Hassan has accepted an invitation to receive the Tipperary International Peace award on Friday April 15 as part of the Tipperary International Festival of Peace being held over the weekend, spokesman Martin Quinn confirmed.

The Baghdad-based economist, who married Mrs Hassan in 1972, will receive a specially commissioned Waterford Crystal Award from the Peace Convention Committee.

A Peace Convention statement said: “In honouring the life of Margaret Hassan, the Peace Convention recognises her tireless work for the Iraqi people over 30 years, which she dedicated to the poor and vulnerable and to those who were most in need in her adopted country.”

Margaret Hassan first became involved in the Middle East in the 1960s when she worked in the Palestinian refugee camps.

She spent many years living and working in Iraq, and from 1991 worked for aid agency CARE International.

During her captivity, Tasheen made a series of emotional appeals for his wife’s release, while premiers Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern both made direct pleas to her kidnappers.

Her murder sparked international condemnation.

After her death, CARE International described her as “an extraordinary woman”.

In a statement, the aid agency said: “Through her courage, tenacity and commitment, Mrs Hassan assisted more than seventeen million Iraqis living in the most difficult of circumstances.

“Everyone who met her was touched by her personality and compassion.”

When the news of her death emerged, Bertie Ahern told the Dáil that those responsible for taking the 59-year-old aid worker’s life stood condemned in the eyes of all good people throughout the world.

There was a funeral mass held for her in Westminster Cathedral and more than 1,000 mourners flocked to a memorial service in Kenmare, Co Kerry where Mrs Hassan’s mother was born and where her sister Geraldine lives.

The Tipperary Peace Convention was founded in 1983 with the aim of promoting peace and rewarding people who make a noteworthy contribution to peace-related issues.

Previous recipients of the Tipperary International Peace Award have included Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton and Bob Geldof.

The presentation of the award to Mr Hassan on Friday will be followed by a peace forum on the topic of ‘the changing role of the aid/humanitarian worker’.

The forum will be addressed by Colm O’Cuanachain, secretary general of Amnesty International Ireland, RTÉ correspondent Richard Downes and Michael D. Higgins, Labour Party Spokesman on Foreign Affairs.

Trocaire Director Justin Kilcullen and Christina Noble, founder of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, will also speak at the forum.

Events will continue over the weekend, including the Tipperary International Song of Peace Grand Final on Saturday night and Catholic and ecumenical services on Sunday morning.