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Iraq

Mastermind of Iraq aid worker's murder escapes

2010-08-23

[Al Arabiya Latest] The convicted mastermind of the killing of British aid worker Margaret Hassan was sprung from prison, Iraq's deputy justice minister said on Sunday, the first time his escape has been confirmed. Judicial officials had for more than a month said Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment last year, was "missing" and that his re-trial over Hassan's murder had to be postponed. "This guy, he beat feet from prison," Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim told AFP. "People facilitated his escape, he is gone." Ibrahim added that "all the people who facilitated this were jugged and are going to court," but did not specify how many people were detained, or when Rawi beat feet. Earlier on Sunday, Rawi's re-trial at Storied Baghdad's Central Criminal Court had been adjourned until September 19, with a justice official and a lawyer for Hassan's family saying authorities had not been able to locate the defendant for more than a month. The lawyer for the victim's family, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court had sent a letter to the justice ministry to inquire about Rawi's whereabouts. "Until now, the justice ministry has not sent a reply, so the case was delayed," the lawyer said. Rawi, from Baghdad's Jamaa district where Hassan was abducted, was jailed having been sentenced to life in prison on June 2 last year, after being found guilty of "participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family." Arrested in May 2008, he had pleaded not guilty to her murder, although his defense acknowledged he may have played a part in a blackmail plot. His lawyers have claimed that an alleged confession put before the court of first instance was extracted under torture, and his retrial had originally been scheduled to begin in April, but has repeatedly been delayed. Britain voiced concern over Rawi's apparent disappearance in a telephone conversation on July 23 between Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari.

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Iraq

"We cannot tell you officially but, unofficially, this person probably escaped,"

2010-07-15

The man who kidnapped and killed British aid worker Margaret Hassan in Iraq is thought to have escaped, according to a lawyer for her family. Ali Lutfi Jassar al Rawi was jailed for life last year for his role in one of the most high-profile murders since the war in Iraq started in 2003. Speaking outside an appeal hearing in Baghdad, lawyer Sarmad al Sarraf said the killer had failed to show up at court and his whereabouts were unknown. "We cannot tell you officially but, unofficially, this person probably escaped," Mr Sarraf said the prison director had told the judge. Jassar Al Rawi apparently disappeared during a transfer to a Baghdad jail from one in northern Iraq. A member of the Hassan family's legal team said: "This is a tragedy. How can the state not know where its detainees are?" Ms Hassan was snatched from her car in October 2004 by men in police uniform as she was being driven to work. The 59-year-old - who led a team in Iraq working to provide essential aid to hospitals and helping to restore vital power and water supplies - was shot a month later. The killing sparked international revulsion and widespread sympathy within Iraq. Her body has never been found and the family have been counting on Jassar al Rawi to reveal where it is so she can be given a proper burial. Lawyers for Jassar al Rawi have claimed an alleged confession was extracted under torture.

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Iraq

Iraq: Life sentence for murder of aid worker

2009-06-04

[ADN Kronos] An Iraqi man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Irish aid worker shot dead in 2004. Margaret Hassan, who had lived in Iraq for 30 years, was seized by a group of armed men wearing Iraqi police uniforms in October 2004 and killed a month later. Fifty-nine year-old Hassan was the director of Care International in Iraq and was kidnapped on her way to work in Baghdad. The body of Dublin-born Hassan, who had Irish, British and Iraqi citizenship, was never found. Triple citizenship? Isn't that a bit...exuberant? Didn't save him, either ... "Ali Lutfi Jassar is sentenced to life for participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family," said Assaad al-Moussawi, a judge at Baghdad's central criminal court, cited by Arab TV network Al-Jazeera on Tuesday. "His role in the killing was proved." Jassar, a 25-year-old engineer, had pleaded not guilty at the start of the one-day trial. He said that his confession had been extracted through torture.

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Iraq

Iraqi jailed over kidnap and murder of Margaret Hassan

2009-06-02

An Iraqi man was jailed for life today for the kidnapping and murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan. Mrs Hassan, 59, the director of humanitarian group Care International in Iraq, was taken hostage on her way to work in Baghdad in October 2004 and shot dead just under a month later. Ali Lutfi Jassar was given a life sentence at Baghdad's Central Criminal Court today for his part in her abduction and murder and for attempting to blackmail her relatives. The aid worker's family welcomed the court's decision, but appealed to Jassar to tell them where her body is so they can bring her back to Britain. They said in a statement: "We are content that this man has been found guilty. "However, he has still not revealed the whereabouts of Margaret's remains, which would enable us to bury her with the respect she deserves." Jassar, 36, a Sunni architect from Baghdad also known as Abu Rasha, pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted after a one-day trial. He was arrested by Iraqi and US forces last year after contacting the British Embassy in Baghdad and attempting to extort 1 million dollars in return for leading them to Mrs Hassan's body. Jassar was the second person to be brought to justice over Mrs Hassan's abduction and murder. Mustafa Mohammed Salman al-Jabouri was given a life sentence by a Baghdad court in June 2006 after being convicted of aiding and abetting the abductors. His sentence was later reduced on appeal. Mrs Hassan's family has been told that three leading members of the kidnap gang who fled Iraq will be tried in their absence.

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