DUBLIN (AFP) - The kidnappers of aid worker Margaret Hassan threatened to hand her over to the group led by Iraqi militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a new video which also reportedly showed the British-Irish woman in a distressed state.
The captors said they would turn Hassan over to al-Zarqawi -- whose group has beheaded several foreign captives, including British Ken Bigley last month -- unless British troops quit Iraq within 48 hours.
Arabic television network Al-Jazeera, which showed video footage of a hooded gunman, said the unknown group holding Hassan wanted "the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq", among other demands.
A presenter with the Doha-based station said that it was not broadcasting the remainder of the video "for editorial and humanitarian reasons pertaining to the condition of the hostage".
Hassan, 59, the head of Iraq operations for leading charity CARE International, was snatched from her car on the way to work in Baghdad on October 19.
Earlier Tuesday, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told his country's parliament that the video received by Al-Jazeera contained "disturbing" footage of Hassan, who is married to an Iraqi and has lived in the country for 30 years.
"It is a distressing video which was decided by the station, on humanitarian grounds, not to show this," Ahern said.
The leader of the main opposition Fine Gael party, Enda Kenny, who was briefed by Ahern on the contents of the video, said it showed Hassan in a poor emotional state.
"This video is quite disturbing and it shows Mrs Hassan being subjected to severe physical and psychological pressure in which she is shown to suffer severe emotional and physical distress," Kenny said.
Also on Tuesday, Ahern and three of Hassan's sisters made a joint appeal for the aid worker's release.
One sister, Deirdre Fitzsimons, referred to the kidnappers' demands that Britain release female prisoners in Iraq and move all its troops back to the southern city of Basra.
"But we are Irish and we have no influence on the British government," she said.
"Our sister is a friend of Iraq and we beg you to please let her go back to her husband who loves her. Please don't hurt her."
Ahern, standing beside Fitzsimons, added his own appeal to the captors, saying Hassan had "devoted herself to the welfare and support of all the Iraqi people" during her decades in the country.
"Through her humanitarian work she has helped countless numbers of Iraqis. She has worked tirelessly and selflessly on their behalf," he said.
"Margaret has no political associations. She represents no one except the vulnerable and the poor.
"Your quarrel is not with Margaret."
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern added that the family had been keen to emphasise the fact that Hassan is Irish.
"They felt that in their contact with people in Baghdad this wasn't getting across as it should be," he said. "They felt that in the recent past the Irishness of Margaret needed to be emphasised more and more."
Hassan last appeared in a video aired on Al-Jazeera last Wednesday appealing to London to withdraw its troops from Iraq and not to deploy around Baghdad.
No group has come out to claim responsibility for her kidnapping Hassan, who is married to an Iraqi, but has dual British-Irish citizenship.
11/02/2004 - 22:23 GMT - AFP