Three go on trial over Margaret Hassan murder

Three men are due to go on trial in Iraq today charged in connection with the murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan.

The Care International worker was taken hostage in October 2004 and killed just under a month later, but her body has never been found.

Yesterday her family said that during her captivity four calls were made to her Iraqi husband Tahseen in Baghdad from the kidnappers, demanding to speak to a member of the British Embassy.

But he had been told by the British that they would not speak to the hostage-takers.

Deidre, Geraldine, Kathryn and Michael Fitzsimons said in a statement released yesterday: “We believe that the refusal by the British Government to open a dialogue with the kidnappers cost our sister her life.”

The Dublin-born charity worker had British, Irish and Iraqi nationality and had lived in Iraq for 30 years.

The family said they had begged Foreign Secretaries Jack Straw and Margaret Beckett, as well as the UK Foreign Office, to arrange for the men to be interviewed by British military police.

“They have refused this request even though this is the only way that Margaret’s remains will be found and we can bring her home to be buried with the dignity she deserves,” they said.

In the statement, Mrs Hassan’s brother and sisters said: “We believe the time has now come for the British and Irish people to know the truth of what happened to our sister Margaret, a British subject.

“During the period of her captivity, four calls were made from the kidnappers to her husband Tahseen in Baghdad.

“These calls were made from Margaret’s mobile phone.

“The hostage-takers demanded to speak to a member of the British embassy, but Tahseen had been told by the British that they would not speak to the kidnappers.

“We believe that the refusal by the British government to open a dialogue with the kidnappers cost our sister her life.

“Margaret, who was vocally opposed to the war in Iraq, was sacrificed for the political ends of Tony Blair and George Bush.”

The UK Foreign Office confirmed Mrs Hassan’s husband was called from her phone by someone purporting to be holding her, but said they had been unable to confirm the claims.

During her kidnap, in which video recordings of her pleading for her life were released, officials were keen to distance her from the British government and emphasise her charity work in Iraq.

“Our strategy was one of ‘personalisation and localisation’, minimising the links between Mrs Hassan and the UK,” a UK Foreign Office spokesman said.

“We understand her family having criticisms of the government approach and we remain in regular contact with them.”

He added that officials would be following the trial of the three men, which begins in Baghdad today, very closely.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has appointed a lawyer in the Iraqi capital to represent the Irish Government at the trial.

The three men were arrested by US troops in May last year.

Deidre Fitzsimons again criticised today the way the UK Foreign Office handled the kidnapping of her sister.

“The advice given to my brother-in-law was ’we’ll emphasise her Iraqi-ness’ which was a ridiculous thing to do because they had kidnapped her in possession of her British passport,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I don’t think he knew what to do. He did the best he could. After all, this was a man in a house on his own, his wife had been taken hostage, he had seen terrible videos of her. He was really left on his own with this advice.”

She said the final advice given to Mr Hassan was to give the kidnappers the mobile phone number of a CARE employee in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

“The next day my sister was murdered. He never even had the chance to give the phone number of a CARE employee in Cairo,” Ms Fitzsimons said.

She issued a renewed appeal to the British government to allow UK police to interview the alleged kidnappers so that they might find out where Mrs Hassan’s body was buried.

“They were found with my sister’s personal belongings, her handbag, her make-up – things that women carry around – the number plates of her car,” she said.

“These men know where my sister is buried. All we want to do now is to bring her home. Her husband wants her to come home to England. We want to bury her with the respect she deserves.

“I am begging the British government to find out where she is and to allow us to do that. That’s the only thing we have left.”