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Hassan Faints From Fear in New Hostage Video
A newly released videotape of Margaret Hassan, a relief worker abducted in Iraq, warns of "dangerous and serious" deadlines, Ireland's premier said Tuesday. Al-Jazeera refused to air the tape of the Dublin-born hostage, saying it was "too graphic."Afraid it's going to upset the base? Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who read the text of the video but hadn't seen it, said he believes it shows the 59-year-old Hassan pleading for her life directly to the camera before suddenly fainting, according to Britain's Press Association news agency. He said a bucket of water is then thrown over her head and she is filmed lying wet and helpless on the ground before getting up and crying, the agency said. Jihadis asserting their fragile masculinity by terrifying a middle-aged female charity worker. These are Moore's idea of 'minutemen', remember. Ahern told the Irish parliament that the video was "distressing" and said "there were a number of very dangerous and very serious timescales stated." He did not elaborate. The much vaunted Irish neutrality's not doing anyone any favours, is it? Her captors previously released three videos of her, and in two of them she pleads for her life, saying she fears she will be beheaded. But she does not say when, and none of her kidnappers have appeared in any of the tapes. Hassan said in earlier tapes that her captors demand the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and the freeing of female Iraqi prisoners held by the U.S.-led coalition. No group has claimed responsibility for her abduction. Posted by: Bulldog 2004-11-02 |
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