Yasser Arafat: France 'opens murder inquiry'
bbc.co.uk | Aug 28th 2012
French prosecutors have opened a murder inquiry into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, sources have told the French news agency AFP.
His family launched a case last month over claims that he was poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive element.
Polonium was apparently found on some of Arafat's belongings by Swiss scientists.
The medical records of Arafat, who died near Paris in 2004, say he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.
However, many Palestinians continue to believe Arafat was poisoned by Israel because he was an obstacle to peace. Israel has denied any involvement.
Others allege that he had Aids.
Al-Jazeera TV commissioned Lausanne University's Institute of Radiation Physics to analyse Arafat's belongings as part of a documentary, which also featured contributions from Arafat's widow Suha.
The scientists told the channel that they had found "significant" traces of polonium-210 present in items including Arafat's trademark keffiyeh.
Following the documentary, Arafat's family lodged papers with the French authorities asking for an investigation.
The French news agency AFP on Tuesday reported that prosecutors had agreed to begin a murder inquiry.
The agency quoted unnamed sources close to the case.
Last week, the Swiss scientists said they had received permission from Suha Arafat and the Palestinian authorities to travel to Ramallah to analyse his remains.
Arafat led the Palestine Liberation Organisation for 35 years and became the first president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996.
He fell violently ill in October 2004 and died two weeks later, at the age of 75, in a French military hospital.
French doctors bound by privacy rules did not release information about Arafat's condition.
In 2005, the New York Times obtained a copy of Arafat's medical records, which it said showed he died of a massive haemorrhagic stroke that resulted from a bleeding disorder caused by an unknown infection.
Experts who reviewed the records told the paper that it was highly unlikely that he had died of Aids or had been poisoned.
Original Page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19402767#TWEET208676
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