Margaret Hassan

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Margaret Hassan (born April 28, 1945 in Dalkey / Dublin ; † November 2004 ) was the head of the aid organization CARE International in Iraq .

Life

Hassan was born Margaret Fitzsimons in Ireland. Her parents were Irish but moved to the UK soon after Margaret was born. In 1980, when Saddam Hussein demanded that all foreigners married to Iraqis take Iraqi citizenship, Hassan became an Iraqi. She therefore had Iraqi, Irish and British citizenship.

She lived in Iraq for over 30 years, where she provided humanitarian aid. Hassan had worked for CARE International in Iraq for 12 years. Despite the added dangers after the outbreak of war, Hassan insisted on continuing their work. “I'm staying with my people in Iraq. This is my home, ”stressed Hassan several times, as the Times reported.

The head of the Care International aid organization in Iraq, tirelessly and resolutely, warned her country's politicians against a war against Saddam Hussein. Such a conflict would lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe" for the people of Iraq, she said at a reception given by British MPs before the Iraq war. "I am sad that British troops are participating," she later told the Times. "My wife worked for the Iraqi people for 30 years," said her husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan. She was mainly responsible for the distribution of medicines and other relief supplies. In the 1990s she protested against the international sanctions from which the population suffered badly.

Care International has been represented in Iraq since 1991. During and after the Iraq war, Care was able to provide help to 12 million Iraqis (as of 2004).

Care was one of the few charities that hadn't scaled back or stopped working in Iraq. Since the war last year, Care has mainly helped rebuild hospitals and provided them with clean water.

Kidnapping in Iraq

At the age of 59, she was kidnapped on October 19, 2004 on her way to work in Baghdad. Hassan's hitherto unknown kidnappers had demanded, among other things, that British troops should leave Iraq. In early November, the kidnappers threatened to hand their hostage over to Abu Musab Al-Sarqawi if their demands were not met. However , according to press reports, the Sarqawi terror group al-Tauhid wa al-Jihad , which has taken numerous foreigners hostage and killed, called for Hassan's release on the Internet. “Those who use this hostage as a 'playing card' have not understood our religion correctly,” Reuters quoted, “we hereby declare to the whole world that we would release the hostage if it were handed over to us and it was not proven that she intrigued against Muslims. "The message of al Qaeda in Iraq in the Hassan case was:" In true Islam one does not kill women and small children. We only kill those who fight against us and our people. "

Care International executive director Geoffrey Dennis said he had no idea why Hassan was kidnapped. "She has stood up for the Iraqi people for decades, denouncing the suffering from the sanctions," he said. The Australian section of Care, which is coordinating the operation in Iraq, had ceased its work.

After analyzing a kidnap video, the British government assumes that Hassan was shot in mid-November 2004.

Web links

• http://www.care.org/ - homepage of the aid organization
• "You have crossed the Rubicon" - Interview with the terrorism expert Rolf Tophoven on the murder of Margaret Hassan ("Der Spiegel", November 18, 2004)