LONDON (AFP) - British-Irish aid worker Margaret Hassan, kidnapped by militants in Iraq last month, has most probably been killed by her captors, her family said in a statement.
"Our hearts are broken. We have kept hoping for as long as we could, but we now have to accept that Margaret has probably gone and at last her suffering has ended," the statement issued by Britain`s Foreign Office read.
The statement, released at the request of Hassan`s brothers and sisters, Michael, Dierdre, Geraldine and Kathryn Fitzsimons, gave no details of how she had been killed.
However a British embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad said later that a video had been issued appearing to show Hassan`s murder, and that it was "probably genuine".
The family statement called Hassan, 59, who spent three decades as an aid worker and had Iraqi, British and Irish nationality, "a friend of the Arab world, to people of all religions".
"For the past 30 years, Margaret worked tirelessly for the Iraqi people," her relatives said.
"Margaret had only goodwill towards everyone. She had no prejudice against any creed. She dedicated her whole life to working for the poor and vulnerable, helping those who had no one else.
"Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses," they added, calling the murder "unforgivable".
Hassan, the head of leading charity CARE International in Iraq, was one of the highest-profile victims in a scourge of kidnappings that has plagued Iraq.
The Irish-born aid worker was kidnapped by an unknown group in Baghdad on October 19.
She was subsequently shown pleading for her life in a series of videos released by the hostage-takers, who also threatened to hand her over to a group led by Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi unless British troops left Iraq.
11/16/2004 - 18:08 GMT - AFP