Palestine leader Yasser Arafat poisoned by polonium: Reports

Doha, Jul 4: Reports have emerged that Nobel Prize winner and

leader Yasser Arafat may have died of poisoning in 2004. The findings were found following a research carried out in Switzerland and reported by Al Jazeera. The report stated that Arafat could have been poisoned by polonium.

The matter was revealed after biological samples were taken from the Palestinian leaders belongings that was provided by his wife Suha. Arafat died in a military hospital in Paris. The findings were made under the guidance of Francois Bochud, head of the Institute of Radiation Physics at University of Lausanne.

According to Bochud, "The conclusion was that we did find some significant polonium that was present in these samples."

Arafat was confined to his Ramallah compound for 2 years by the Israeli army late 2004, only later slipping into a coma on Nov 11, 2004 and subsequently dying at the age of 75. No autopsy was performed then and the exact reason for his death still remains a mystery. It was then rumoured that a significant level of polonium was found in his personal belongings sparking fears of a poisoning attempt.

Following allegations by the Palestinian side on the poisoning angle, an inconclusive probe in 2005 stated that he was neither poisoned nor had Cancer or AIDS.

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