Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Iraqi Gets Life for Killing Aid Worker in 2004

By Peter Fribert

On cnn.com, A court found an Iraqi man guilty of kidnapping and killing a humanitarian worker in 2004 and sentenced him to life in prison Tuesday, Iraqi court officials said. Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi was found guilty at Baghdad Central Criminal Court for the killing of Margaret Hassan, who was in charge of the operations in Iraq for Care International. The suspect, arrested in May 2008, was also found guilty of, get this, attempting to blackmail Hassan's family. Al-Rawi is the second person found guilty in connection with the Hassan death case. The other suspect was sentenced to life in prison in 2006, however the sentence was reduced on appeal, court officials said. Also noted, Hassan was seen in several hostage videos where she begged for her life and strongly urged British troops to withdraw from Iraq. Some suspect that she was threatened, point blank, with rifles aiming at her while she was speaking in the hostage videos.

Hassan was born in Ireland and had lived in Iraq for roughly 30 years before she was killed.

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