When teenager Maha Mezher took to the streets of Bradford to protest against the kidnapping of Kenneth Bigley she had no idea that a few months later her own family would be subjected to the same heart-breaking ordeal.

As a British Iraqi she wanted to show that her countrymen were appalled by the actions of terrorists capturing and killing innocent people in the aftermath of the war.

The 17-year-old student from Heaton organised a gathering of Iraqis in Centenary Square to make their voices heard in September last year.

But now the crisis in the country has struck closer to home as her uncle and ten-year-old nephew have been brutally murdered by kidnappers.

Maha was born and brought up in Bradford but her parents Nidhal and Kahtan are from Iraq, having left the country 20 years ago.

Her uncle Haider Salim Ali, 37, had lived with his wife and three sons in Baghdad, where he ran a jewellery shop.

He and his son Mohammed were snatched by kidnappers who are believed to have asked for a $100,000 ransom. However, on the same day their bodies were found dumped on the edge of the city.

Haider's widow had to identify the mutilated bodies of her husband and son. They had both suffered gunshot and stab wounds and appeared to have been tortured.

Now Maha and her family are trying to come to terms with why an innocent man and a young child should have been subjected to such a death.

Maha's mother Nidhal has lost her brother and none of the family in Bradford will now have the chance to meet Mohammed.

The family are angry that the Iraqi population is still suffering despite Saddam Hussain's dictatorship being toppled and the tragedy has prompted Maha to write to US President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding they take action to protect innocent civilians in Iraq and bring murderers to justice.

In her letter she says: "When you invaded Iraq you opened the barrier like a wound. Terrorists from all over the world have now entered and infested Iraq with their presence. They have taken advantage of the weak state Iraq is in and used their poisonous acts to raise the friction between the people there to hatred.

"They prey on the weak and frail, converting the innocent into killing machines by infecting their minds with lies.

"Iraqis live in fear just as in Saddam's time. This war was meant to relieve this but instead it has made it worse."

Maha's family have feared for their relatives' safety since the invasion of Iraq began in 2003.

"When the war started we would phone our family every day and it was terrible because when the phone was ringing there was a moment where you did not know what was going on at the other end or what had happened to them," Maha said.

Maha's is currently studying for her A-levels and is planning to go to University to study dentistry. But she fears that she will grow up never being able to get to know her family in Iraq because the country will never be safe enough to visit.

Her mother Nidhal said she believed the situation in her homeland was worse than ever.

She said: "The people cut my nephew's fingers off with knives and this is the 21st century. What sort of human being can do this?

"They asked for money but they killed and tortured them anyway."