Please return Margaret’s body, begs husband

The husband of Irish-born aid worker Margaret Hassan begged her captors to return her body to him after a video apparently showed her murder in Iraq.

Tahseen Hassan, husband of the 59-year-old hostage who had been held in captivity since October 19, said he also believed his wife had been murdered.

In a television plea, he said: “I have been told that there is a video of Margaret which appears to show her murder. The video may be genuine but I do not know.

“I beg those people who took Margaret to tell me what they have done with her.

“They can tell me. They can call the helpline. I need her. I need her back to rest in peace.”

Mrs Hassan was seized by gunmen on her way to work in western Baghdad early in the morning.

She headed Care International’s operations in Iraq and had lived with her husband in the country for 30 years.

Her husband pleaded: “She dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people. Please now, please return her to me.”