MURDERED aid worker Khalil Dale has been short-listed for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2013.

Mr Dale was kidnapped at gunpoint in January this year while working as a health programme manager for the Red Cross in Pakistan. The 60-year-old Muslim convert, who was born in York but had settled in Dumfries, was ambushed by armed men as he made his way home from work on January 5.

Despite pleas for his safe release he was found dead in an orchard in April, with a note next to his body claiming the Taliban had killed him.

Speaking from his home in New Zealand, Khalil's brother Ian, said:"Khalil always had a deep affinity with Scotland and Scotland was always his home. The news of his nomination for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award is both uplifting and refreshing."

Also nominated are the Very Reverend Dr John Miller and wife Mary Miller, from Selkirk. The third nominee is Margaret Mills MBE, a project worker with charity Children 1st.

The winners will be announced on January 26, 2013.