Iraq acknowledges killer of British aid worker escaped from prison 11 months ago

Iraq acknowledges Briton’s killer escaped

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s deputy justice minister has acknowledged the convicted killer of British aid worker Margaret Hassan has escaped from prison.

The announcement is an embarrassment for authorities because it is being made 11 months after the escape and the victim’s family had already made the news public last month.

Hassan’s 2004 kidnapping and videotaped shooting prompted most international aid organizations to suspend activities in Iraq and evacuate foreign staff.

The deputy minister, Busho Ibrahim, said Sunday that authorities only discovered last month that Ali Lutfi al-Rawi was missing.

Al-Rawi was convicted last year but was granted a retrial after saying he was not in Iraq when Hassan was killed. The retrial has repeatedly been postponed.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s deputy justice minister acknowledged Sunday that the convicted killer of a British aid worker beheaded in 2004 escaped from prison 11 months ago and that the government only learned of the breakout last month.

The announcement is also embarrassing for the Iraqi government because it comes a month after the family of the victim, Margaret Hassan, made the news of the escape public.

The deputy minister, Busho Ibrahim, said Sunday that a government investigation revealed that Ali Lufti al-Rawi escaped in September 2009 with the help of prison guards.

“In all that time, we thought he was in prison,” Ibrahim said.

The kidnapping of the 59-year-old Hassan and her videotaped beheading at the height of the insurgency shocked the world and prompted most international aid organizations to suspend activities in Iraq and evacuate foreign staff.

Hassan, who lived in Iraq for more than 30 years, was director of CARE International and worked on projects providing food, medicine and humanitarian aid to Iraqis. She was a critic of both the United Nations sanctions on Iraq and the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Hassan, who was married to an Iraqi and also had Iraqi citizenship, was abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19, 2004, on her way to work.

Her captors issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

Al-Rawi was convicted last year but was granted a retrial after saying he was not in Iraq when Hassan was killed. The retrial has repeatedly been postponed.

(This version CORRECTS that it is believed Hassan was shot to death).)