Aid charity Care International has made a televised plea to the kidnappers of Iraq director Margaret Hassan after a new videotape showed her tearfully begging the British Prime Minister Tony Blair not to send troops to Baghdad.
Mrs Hassan, director of Care International in Iraq, sobbed as she said she did not want to die like beheaded engineer Ken Bigley and urged the Government not to move Black Watch soldiers to the country's capital.
Hours after the station broadcast the video of Ms Hassan, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern issued a statement to the station saying that to harm her in any way would be "unthinkable".
The release of the video added to fears that she was being held by militants such as those who have killed many other hostages in recent months.
Care International responded with a statement, read on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera by the organisation's secretary-general, Denis Caillaux.
Mr Caillaux said Mrs Hassan was dedicated to the Iraqi people and called for her "immediate release".
Downing Street refused to respond to Mrs Hassan's statement but the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described the video as "extremely distressing" and urged Iraqi people to join together and call for her "immediate release".
He said: "She is a naturalised Iraqi citizen and always holds the people of Iraq in her heart. Care joins with many of the people whose lives Mrs Hassan has touched over her decades of service in Iraq in reaching out to her captors to appeal to their humanity.
"We call on the people who are holding Mrs Hassan to understand that she is an Iraqi and to release her to her family and the people who love her."
In an interview with Fox News, Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi called the Hassan kidnapping a "tragedy" but added: "Nobody is going to go for their demands ...and give in to their demands. We have to remain very strong and adamant that we should bring the terrorists to justice."
Mrs Hassan, who has dual British and Iraqi nationality, was snatched by an armed gang in Baghdad on Tuesday.
On the video, she said: "Please help me. Please help me. This might be my last hours. Please help me. Please, the British people, ask Mr Blair to take the troops out of Iraq, and not to bring them here to Baghdad. That's why people like Mr Bigley and myself are being caught. And maybe we will die like Mr Bigley. Please, please, I beg of you.