Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi Jailed For His Part In The Murder Of Margaret Hassan
Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi an architect from Jamaah in Baghdad, who was said by the prosecution to have acted as interpreter for the gang that kidnapped and ultimately murdered Margaret Hassan was jailed for life today by the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad for his role in the crime.
About Margaret:
This undated file photo provided by CARE shows Margaret Hassan. It’s a very good photo of her, she looked just like that.
Margaret was born in Ireland, she moved to England with her parents as a child. Aged 27 she met and eloped to Baghdad with Tahseen Ali Hassan, whom she had met when he was a 29 year old engineering student. They were very happily married and the couple had lived in Irak for 30 years at the time of her kidnapping and murder in 2004.
For the last twelve years of her life she headed CARE International’s operations in Iraq. She brought tremendous amounts of energy, toughness, and above all – compassion to work. She was 59, irreplacable, and is greatly missed.
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Chief Judge Assad al-Moussawi, said that "His role in the killing was proved" and that "Ali Lutfi Jassar is sentenced to life for participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family".
During the trial which lasted a day the jumpsuit clad Al-Rawi claimed in testimony that he had been beaten and been subjected to electric shocks during interrogation and that under the threat of further torture that he signed documents without knowing their contents. He testified further that he had had nothing to do with Margaret Hassan’s kidnapping, that he had had nothing to do with Margaret Hassan’s murder, he testified further that had neither seen nor spoken to her. His lawyers entered in evidence a document they claimed was al-rawi’s passport which, they said, proved he was not in Irak at the time of the kidnapping.
The court did not accept al-Rawi’s claims. During the trial Judge al-Moussawi said that al-Rawi had confessed to the charges, that the voice on the tapes of extortion telephone calls made to the British Embassy was al-Rawi’s, and that testimony from other detainees confirmed his involvement.
Under Iraki law al-Rawi who went pale and sagged as sentence was pronounced has an automatic right of appeal.
Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi’s Was Second Conviction
Al-Rawi was the second suspect convicted of being part of the gang believed to have kidnapped Hassan, in June 2006, another man, Mustafa Salman al-Jibouri, who had some of Margaret Hassan’s personal effects in his possession at the time of his arrest was given a life sentence for his role in her kidnapping.
However al-Jibouri was never more than a bit player on the fringes of the gang that abducted Margaret Hassan.
During his defense al-Jibouri said that he didn’t know the purse and ID cards given to him for safekeeping by gang’s ringleader, Sheikh Hussein al-Zubayi, were Margaret Hassan’s. His co-defendants (two of his brothers and one of al-Zubayi’s brothers) were cleared of the charges against them.
Al-Jibouri’s sentence was reduced from life to 18 months on appeal.
