To kill Margaret Hassan is inexcusable

The British-Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan, seized October 19 by the Iraqi militants, is believed to be murdered by her captors, her husband said today.

"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," Tahsin Hassan told Reuters in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2003/04/09/45846.html ' target=_blank>Baghdad.

Arabic &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2003/01/16/42106.html ' target=_blank>television al-Jazeerasaid today it would not air a video showing a gunman killing a woman, believed to be British-Iraqi hostage Margaret Hassan, reports The Australian.

According to the Al-Jazeera News, the family of Hasan, in a statement in London said she was most likely murdered. The family said she "has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended".

Her Iraqi husband Tahsin Hasan said he was aware of the video which appeared to show the killing of his wife.

Tahsin Hasan in a statement broadcast by Britain's Sky News television said, "I beg those people who took Margaret to tell me what they have done with her. They can tell... I need her. I need her back to rest in peace," he said.

"Margaret lived with me in Iraq for 30 years. She dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people. Please, now, please return her to me."