ISSUE NUMBER 131 Serving North American Celtic Communities Since 1991 NOVEMBER 2004
Family Pleads for Safe Release of Irish Hostage
ON NOVEMBER 1, Al-Jazeera television broadcast a third video from the kidnappers of Margaret Hassan, the head of the Care International charity based in Iraq who was kidnapped on her way to work on October 19.
It showed a hooded gunman but did not air the sound. Instead, the presenter said the kidnappers gave Britain 48 hours to meet their demands. The newscaster said the station declined to broadcast the entire tape because "of the hostage's condition."
MARGARETHASSAN
the kidnappers' demands and had begged Tony Blair and the British government to release the women prisoners and also not to move the Black Watch closer to Baghdad. She added. "But we are Irish, and we have no influence on the British government. "
Hassan was born Margaret Fitzsimons in Dublin 59 years ago and brought up in England. Her late father was a Dubliner and her mother Mary (nee Sugrue). who is from Reen. Kenmare,
lives in England,
County Kerry. The kidnapped woman is still a regular visitor to Kenmare where her sister Geraldine Riney lives with her family.
After her marriage to Iraqi economist Tahseen
It is understood it shows Hassan pleading Ali Hassan she moved to Baghdad in 1972 for her life directly to camera before suddenly and has l)vfd thfe since In 1992 she was fainting. Abucket of water is thrown overher appointed Iraqi head of Care International
head and she is filmed lying wet and helpless on the ground before getting up and crying.
While making a public statement in Dublin, her sisters - Geraldine Riney and Catherine and Deirdre Fitzsimons - broke down in anguish after an emotional appeal for their loved one's release that concluded, "please don't hurt her."
which is sponsored by the Australian branch of the aid agency.
Over the past 12 years she has achieved a formidable reputation as a person who is not afraid to speak her mind and with an ability to get things done. She is extremely highly regarded among the communities in which she works.
"She is an Iraqi, she has dedicated her life to Many appeals have been made for her release,
the people of Iraq." London-based Deirdre In Iraqher husband appealed to her kidnappers
said as the abduction agony continues, through a number of Arab television stations,
"Margaret loved the people and she wanted Pointing out that she is an Iraqi citizen who
to stay to help them. She lived through the has been helping her adopted country for 30
wars and sanctions, to which she was strongly Hears-
opposed," Deirdre added in a direct appeal to Jrish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot
those holding Hassan.
"Our sister is a friend of Iraq, and we beg you to please let her go back to her husband, who loves her."
The sisters wept in each other's arms. Her
Ahem said that he has appointed a senior official to liaise with the Hassan family. When Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Nabil Shaath visited Dublin. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern joined him in a televised appeal for Hassan's release which has since been broadcast in the Middle
sister Deirdre said the family had listened to East.
Irish Woman Abducted in Afghanistan
Annetta Flanigan became the second Irish-born woman to be abducted in the Middle East when, along with two colleagues, she was taken at gunpoint in Kabul on October 28. The three UN election workers were travelling in a UN vehicle when their way was blocked in the Afghan capital.
Witnesses said that up to seven armed men beat up the driver and forced the three officials into apick-up truck. Flanigan. born and raised in Richhill. County Armagh, is a 43-year-old Queen's University law graduate. She has worked in several global trouble spots, including Bosnia and Rwanda, where she met her Spanish husband who is also working for the UN in Kabul. Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern called for her immediate release.
A breakaway Taliban group has claimed responsibility and released a video of Flanigan and Shqipe Hebibi. from Kosovo,
seated on the floor on either side of Anjelito Nayanfrom the Philippines. The three looked unharmed but their captors have threatened to kill them if all Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners are not released. They have also demanded the withdrawal of the UN from Afghanistan.
[For related related articles, turn to pages 6 and 7.]
LARRY BRADLEY of the Irish Village is shown here with his staff who are getting ready to welcome thousands of Grey Cup fans to Ottawa.
[For the full story, turn to page 3.]
FRIAR'S BUSH cemetery is the oldest Christian burial site in Belfast and it has long fascinated historians. Our writer discovered it by chance and learned some astonishing facts upon investigation. [Turn to page 11 for the full story.]
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