Kidnappers would have freed Linda Norgrove alive, claims colleague

COLLEAGUES of Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was killed in a failed rescue attempt in Afghanistan, had expected the kidnappers to release her alive, it has emerged.

• Documentary into life of aid worker Linda Norgrove to be screened next Monday at 8pm

• Colleagues did not believe captors planned to kill Linda

A new documentary will claim Ms Norgrove was told she was being held as a bargaining chip for a prisoner exchange, and would not be harmed.

The 36-year-old from the Western Isles was killed by a grenade thrown by a member of US special forces, who were attempting to rescue her on

8 October, 2010. One man who worked with her in Afghanistan has told BBC Alba his understanding at the time, gleaned from local contacts, was that the men would have freed her alive.

Abdul Wadood, aid programme manager, said: “Linda asked the abductors when they were planning to kill her.

“And then the abductors talked to her in a very soft language, and they told her and

assured her that she would not be killed because that is not their purpose to kill her. All they wanted was to release some of their prisoners. And then they were reassuring her every time that she would be released when this deal was done.

“The information that I was receiving at the beginning, everything was very optimistic. I was very optimistic. I believed Linda would come back alive.”

The film also follows Linda’s parents, John and Lorna, on their visit to Afghanistan to see their daughter’s legacy of humanitarian work.

She had been managing a project in eastern Afghanistan, working on agriculture development and other schemes aimed at building self-dependence. But she was kidnapped on 26 September and Foreign Secretary William Hague approved the ultimately disastrous rescue bid.

Mr Wadood said Ms Norgrove knew the risks she faced in such a volatile part of the world.

“She had very special characteristics,” he added. “I believe that she knew about the risks

associated with her work and the difficult and remote areas that she was travelling to.

“She would tell people, ‘I am not afraid of the security risks because I believe I am doing some good work for these people, the people know about my work and I see no reason that there would be a security risk’.”

His expectation that she would survive the ordeal had been shared by the senior management of the international charity they were working for.

Betsy Marcotte, senior vicepresident of DAI, a development charity, said: “Until the last moment, we all believed she would come out of this alive.”

Last year, Mr and Mrs Norgrove travelled to Kabul to visit a number of the projects funded through the Linda Norgrove Foundation, a charity they set up in their daughter’s memory.

Following their return, Mr Norgrove said: “I think it has helped us to place Linda’s role out here in context. Over the past 18 months things have got easier – as everybody would imagine. But the thing does not go away – it just changes.”

They visited the Afghan Educational Children’s Circus, a project which uses entertainment to educate children about landmines and drugs.

Mrs Norgrove said: “Linda was very keen to promote the idea of education for girls. Everybody, in fact, that we have spoken to out here has said that the education of women is the answer.”

l Lorgan Linda/Linda’s Story will be shown on BBC Alba on Monday at 9pm.