Hassan's sister: 'Please don't hurt her'
The sister of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan has begged her captors not to harm her, after she met today with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The Taoiseach also made a direct appeal to the kidnappers of the Irish-born aid worker who has been held hostage in Iraq for more than two weeks.
Margaret Hassan, who was born in Dublin and raised in Britain, was kidnapped while on her way to work in Baghdad on October 18.
Mrs Hassan, the local head of the British charity CARE International, is married to an Iraqi man and has been living and working in Iraq for 30 years.
Her captors have demanded the withdrawal of British soldiers from Iraq and the release of all women prisoners from Iraqi jails.
Speaking after a meeting with her relatives in Dublin today, Mr Ahern said to her kidnappers: "Margaret has no political associations, she represents no one except the vulnerable and the poor. Your quarrel is not with Margaret, nor is it with the Irish people, who have been a friend of the Arab nation."
Mrs Hassan's sister, Deirdre Fitzsimons, also begged for her sibling not to be harmed.
"Our sister is a friend of Iraq and we beg you to please let her go back to her husband, who loves her," Ms Fitzsimons said. "Please don't hurt her."
