British Hostage Believed Dead

The family of Margaret Hassan, the 59-year-old aid worker kidnapped in Iraq last month, said Tuesday they believed she was dead.

A statement from Hassan's four brothers and sisters was released by Britain's Foreign Office.

"Our hearts are broken," it said. "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 family did not indicate why they now believed Hassan was dead, but said: "Those who are guilty of this atrocious act, and those who support them, have no excuses."

Meanwhile, Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera said Tuesday it had received a videotape showing the slaying of a woman believed to be Hassan, but would not broadcast the footage.

"We don't show acts of killing," said Jihad Ballout, Al-Jazeera spokesman. "We've never done it before, outside war."

He said the station received the tape a few days ago but was not sure of its authenticity.

Ballout said the video showed a hooded person firing a pistol into the head of a blindfolded woman, wearing an orange jumpsuit.

"She was presumed to be Mrs. Hassan," he told The Associated Press.

He said the station had shown the tape to British officials.

"We invited British diplomatic officials to come and view it in Doha, Qatar, with the aim of helping us ascertain whether it was Mrs. Hassan or not," he said.

Hassan, the director of CARE international in Iraq, was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19. Her captors later issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

On Nov. 2, Al-Jazeera television reported her abductors had threatened to turn her over to followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. His men have been blamed for numerous deadly car bombings and the slayings of foreign hostages.

Hassan lived in Iraq for 30 years and married an Iraqi. She was a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq.

Hassan made three videotaped pleas for her life while help captive, urging Britain to withdraw troops from Iraq and asking for the release of all Iraqi female detainees.

The most recent tape, broadcast on Al-Jazeera in late October, showed a distraught and frightened Hassan, blinking back tears as she spoke into the camera. No gunmen were visible in the footage.

"Please don't bring the soldiers to Baghdad ... Please, on top of that, please release the women prisoners from prisons," she said.