IRELAND: The parish priest of the Kerry town of Kenmare, Father Tom Crean, told the hundreds of people who attended a memorial service for Margaret Hassan, among them close relatives, that he hoped her family's appeal for the return of her body would be heard by her killers, writes Anne Lucey
Her murder had been brutal, cold-blooded, barbaric and evil, Father Crean said during the Mass. Margaret Hassan's family wanted to honour and celebrate her life in a fitting way and "grieve her death", he told up to 700 people at the Mass in Holy Cross Church.
Church of Ireland rector of Kenmare, the Rev Alan Shaw, read from the Epistle from St Paul to the Romans: "With God on our side, who can be against us ..." Father Crean welcomed members of the Church of Ireland community to the Catholic church.
The prayers of the faithful, read by teachers at the four Kenmare schools, included "that those who imprisoned her and took her life may repent and know no good comes from violence and brutality".
The circumstances of her death "pierces to the marrow of our bones" and "we recoil with horror from them", he said. "No cause will be advanced by her brutal murder. On the contrary, Iraqi people have lost a true friend and advocate of justice and the poor," Father Crean said. Her loss to her family was "unspeakable".
The Mass was attended by pupils and staff from Pobal Scoil Inbhear Sceine, the secondary school where Ms Hassan's brother-in-law, Mr Jerry Riney, teaches.
Mr Riney was said to be too upset to attend. Ms Hassan's first cousin, Ms Joan Granville, along with other relatives from the Kenmare area, attended. Ms Granville said afterwards she was very upset. "We were hoping she would be released," she said.
It was strongly suggested in Kenmare yesterday that Ms Hassan's immediate family were informed she was dead late last week, but were asked not to release the news. Relatives yesterday said they did not wish to comment.
Ms Hassan's sister, Ms Geraldine Riney, who lives in the area, is in Britain with her sisters, Deirdre and Kathryn, and brother Michael. Two books of condolences were opened at the church and were signed by people from throughout the area.
Ms Hassan's late mother Eileen, nee Sugrue, was from Kenmare. Her father, Peter Fitzsimons, was from Dublin. He died three months ago.