Mourners Pay Tribute to Slain Aid Worker
More than 1,000 mourners attended a memorial service in the southwest Ireland village of Kenmare for the aid worker who was kidnapped and recently killed in Iraq.
More than 1,000 mourners attended a memorial service in the southwest Ireland village of Kenmare for the aid worker who was kidnapped and recently killed in Iraq. British officials say they believe Irish-born Margaret Hassan, who served as the director for CARE International in Iraq, was the blindfolded woman that was shot in the head by a hooded militant on a video obtained but not aired by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera.
“Our hearts just cry in pain with Margaret’s family. All our thoughts and prayers are with them as they come to terms with this unspeakable loss,” Parish Priest Fr Tom Crean told the congregation of Holy Cross church in Kenmare, where the joint Catholic-Protestant ceremony took place Wednesday morning. “We’re together in prayer in our vigil with the family.”
Crean told the congregation that Hassan’s death “pierces to the marrow of all our beings,” later adding that he now prays for the safe return of Hassan’s body so that “we can fully honor and celebrate her life”.
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Since her abduction, locals have lit candles in the church every day and she was prayed for at every ceremony, Ireland On-Line reported.
While tributes to Hassan’s tireless charity work have been paid by leaders throughout Ireland and Europe, many have expressed shock and anger over the murder of Hassan, who was renowned for her 30 years of work in Iraq, distributing medicine, food and supplies to Iraqis suffering under the sanctions of the 1990s.
Since Hassan’s abduction on Oct. 19, CARE International has closed its Iraq operations, and is now in mourning for Hassan.
Many relief organizations, similarly, have drastically scaled back operations in Iraq because of security concerns, according to AP. After a deadly bomb attack on United Nations offices in Baghdad last year, WFP and other U.N. agencies pulled their international staff out of Iraq. Many other groups have done the same, leaving local employees in place to carry on work.
Hassan was the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year. Of the 170, AP reports that at least 34 have been killed. Besides Hassan, eight foreign women have been abducted. Seven have been released. Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq who was seized last month, is now the only one whose fate remains unknown.
