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Margaret HassanHostage Terror Timeline By PA News Reporters This is how the latest hostage crisis in Iraq has unfolded: Tuesday October 19: Margaret Hassan, a British-Iraqi national born in Ireland, is seized by gunmen on her way to work in western Baghdad at 7.30am. Mrs Hassan has lived in Iraq for 30 years and heads humanitarian group CARE International’s operations in the country. Hours after the kidnapping, video footage of the hostage, her hands bound behind her back and looking “very distressedâ€, is shown on Arab TV station Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera reports that an unnamed “armed Iraqi group†said it had kidnapped her. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says British diplomats in Baghdad are in touch with CARE International about the case. Prime Minister Tony Blair promises to do “whatever we can†to secure Mrs Hassan’s release. Wednesday October 20: CARE International announces it has halted its operations in Iraq following the abduction and is doing all it can to secure Mrs Hassan’s release. The charity worker’s husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan, a retired Iraqi economist, makes an emotional appeal to the kidnappers to free her. Mr Blair and Irish premier Bertie Ahern stress that every effort possible is being made to free her. The Iraqi government condemns Mrs Hassan’s kidnappers as despicable. Thursday October 21: Former Australian prime minister and founder of Care Australia, Malcolm Fraser, issues a joint statement with former Japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa, his co-chairman of the InterAction Council of former heads of government and heads of state, appealing for Mrs Hassan’s release. The Australian government is willing to talk to the kidnappers, but it will not offer to pay a ransom or change its Iraq policy, foreign minister Alexander Downer says. Mr Hassan makes a second appeal to the kidnappers to free his wife. Colleagues of Mrs Hassan say they are hopeful she will be released and that an enormous amount of work is being undertaken on the ground in Iraq to try to secure her freedom. The Irish government and Palestinian Authority issue a joint appeal on her behalf. Friday October 22: Al-Jazeera airs a new video of a weeping Mrs Hassan in which she pleads with the British people to save her life. She says she doesn’t want to die like Ken Bigley. Saturday October 23: CARE International’s secretary-general, Denis Caillaux, makes a plea for Mrs Hassan to be freed which is read on Al-Jazeera, but the appeal is met with silence by her kidnappers. Sunday October 24: The Foreign Office refuses to be drawn on a report in The Observer that British security officials are trying to find the intermediary who established contact with the captors of Briton Ken Bigley during his kidnap ordeal. The newspaper claims they want to ascertain if she is being held by the group, controlled by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which seized and eventually killed Mr Bigley. A Foreign Office spokesman will only reiterate that efforts are continuing on her behalf, saying: “We are working closely with the Iraqi authorities to secure Margaret’s release.†Monday October 25: Deaf schoolchildren helped by Mrs Hassan join 200 of her colleagues at a rally in Baghdad to call for her immediate release. Protesters gather outside CARE International’s Baghdad headquarters, carrying pictures of the hostage and banners calling for the release of “Mama Margaretâ€. Wednesday October 27: Mrs Hassan is shown on a new videotape on Al-Jazeera pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. She also asks for the release of all female prisoners in Iraq and for CARE International to close its offices in the country.
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