Blair's pledge on Hassan worries her colleagues

4.00pm - By KIM SENGUPTA

BAGHDAD - Iraqi colleagues of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan say they are deeply worried that Tony Blair's repeated pledge to 'save' her is, in fact, putting her life in increased danger.

Officials of Care in Baghdad say that they and others working for the charity worldwide have been striving to show that Mrs Hassan, the director in Iraq, considers herself an Iraqi.

Mr Blair and his ministers saying they are actively engaged in attempting to secure her release is undoing this effort.

Highlighting the involvement of a government which took part in invading in Iraq, they told the Independent, will make her position much more vulnerable in the hands of the militants.

Mrs Hassan, who is in her 60s, was born in Dublin. She holds Iraqi, British and Irish nationalities.

In London too, Care International has stressed that she has lived in Iraq for 32 years, is married to an Iraqi, and did not contemplate ever living in Britain.

"There is a lot of unhappiness here among people in Care about what is being said in London", said an official who only wanted to use his first name, Musab, for safety reasons.

"We feel that all this talk about British government getting involved will send bad and wrong signals to the people who are holding her. This makes the whole thing political.

"We are Iraqis and we know what the situation is here. This is not helpful and it could hurt her."

Yesterday her husband, Tahseen Ali Hassan, appealing to the abductors to free his wife, also urged them to consider her bonds with Iraq.

He said: "I would like to tell the kidnappers that we are in the holy month of Ramadan and my wife has been helping Iraq since 30 years and loved this country.

In the name of humanity, Islam and brotherhood, I appeal to the kidnappers to free her because she has nothing to do with politics."

Mr Hassan said that the kidnappers had not made any demands and the fate of his wife was not known.

The Arab television channel, al Jazeera has broadcast a brief video on Tuesday, after her kidnapping, showing Mrs Hassan with her hands bound behind her back.

The tape was delivered by a group claiming to be her kidnappers.

Yesterday Care International, which has stayed in Iraq through the war with Iran and the two Gulf wars, announced that it was suspending operations.

Mr Hassan, a retired economist and businessman, who had spent most of yesterday with Care officials and British and Iraqi officials, described how the kidnappers posed as policemen to carry out the abduction on Alrabia street as his wife was on her way to work.

"It happened at about 7.20 in the morning. She was in a car being driven. There was a guard, but he wasn't carrying any weapons.

"Two cars blocked her path and people in police uniform asked her to get out of the car and speak to them. I am told she did that, suspecting nothing.

"Then other gunmen appeared, and she was grabbed. They started firing in the air to stop anyone from helping."

The gunmen started hitting the driver, and the guard, an Egyptian called Abdullah Ali.

Mr Hassan continued: "Margaret told them to stop hurting them. She said it was her that they were after and she would go with them. She was taken into the car and that is the last time she was seen until they produced the video.

"I had warned her when all these kidnappings started. But she did not seem very worried because she considered herself an Iraqi, and, of course, she was so busy with so many projects."

The Irish government said yesterday that it was co-operating with all the bodies involved to try and secure Mrs Hassan's release.

Ireland opposed the US and British invasion of Iraq because it did not have a UN mandate.

One of the projects which will suffer due to Care pulling out is the Al-Kharkh Hospital in Baghdad.

The 130-bed hospital, which specialises in baby care, was ransacked and partially burned in the aftermath of the war, and Mrs Hassan was personally involved in reconstructing six floors of the building.

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Herald Feature: Iraq