Iraqi Gets Life for Helping Abductors

An Iraqi court sentenced a 30-year-old Iraqi man Monday to life in prison for helping the kidnappers of British aid worker Margaret Hassan. Two others were acquitted, a court official said.

Hassan, 59, director of CARE International in Iraq, was married to an Iraqi, had lived here for 30 years and spent nearly half her life helping Iraqis.

She was abducted in Baghdad in October 2004 and shown later that month on video pleading for her life, calling on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq. She was killed the next month and her body has never been found.

Hassan’s family said it was “devastated and appalled” by the court’s decision and had hoped for a murder conviction. “This man was found with Margaret’s personal belongings. He had used her mobile telephone up until the eve of her death,” the family said in a statement.

Mustafa Salman was convicted of aiding and abetting the kidnappers and sentenced to life in prison, according to the court official. He denied the crime. Muhssin Ahmed, 39, and Qassim Muhammad, 33, were acquitted.