October 22, 2004
AQ hostage Margaret Hassan begs for life in new video
In a scenario that is unsettlingly reminiscent of the Paul Bigley kidnapping a month ago, CARE International's senior worker in Iraq, Margaret Hassan, kidnapped less than a week ago, was shown pleading for her life on a video released to Al Jazeera earlier today.
"Please help me. Please help me," said a terrified Hassan, breaking down in tears and burying her face in a tissue. She said she might be killed like British hostage Kenneth Bigley, who was beheaded by his captors earlier this month.Hassan, seen from the shoulders up only in the video, directed her pleas toward British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Hassan implored Blair to prevent British troops from coming to Baghdad."This might be my last hours," she said in the video aired by the Arabic television station Al-Jazeera. She begged the British people to "ask Mr. Blair to take the troops out of Iraq, and not to bring them here to Baghdad. That's why people like Mr. Bigely and myself are being caught. And maybe we will die like Mr. Bigley. Please, please, I beg of you."
Unlike past kidnappings, no deadline has been set for Coalition forces to respond to the kidnapper's would-be demands and Hassan's pleas. However, many fear that Hassan may become the first Western woman to be beheaded by the monsters as the days progress.