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Middle East and North Africa

Arab League supports idea of forming int’l committee to investigate Arafat’s death

Arafat’s remains, which are buried at a mausoleum in Ramallah, were exhumed at the demand of his widow a year ago

© EPA/ABIR SULTAN

CAIRO, December 22, 2:57 /ITAR-TASS/. The League of Arab States (LAS) called for the formation of an international committee to investigate the details of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

At an extraordinary meeting of the LAS Council on Saturday the foreign ministers of the LAS states supported an idea, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had voiced to form a committee that will conduct an independent investigation of Arafat’s death under the aegis of the United Nations Organisation.

Yasser Arafat died on November 11, 2004 at the age of 75 at the military hospital Percy in a neighbourhood of Paris. According to the official theory of French doctors, the Palestinian leader died of massive hemorrhagic stroke.

However, later the media have reported that Arafat could have been poisoned with radioactive polonium. Arafat’s remains, which are buried at a mausoleum in Ramallah, were exhumed at the demand of his widow a year ago. About 60 samples were taken. The samples were distributed between Swiss, French and Russian investigative groups.

Swiss specialists from the Institute of Radiophysics in Lausanne have found radioactive polonium-210 in Arafat’s remains. According to their reports, the dose of the radioactive agent exceeds the normal level by at least 18 times.

However, a theory of French experts differed completely from the conclusions of the Swiss committee. The French specialists have rejected a theory of poisoning with polonium, stating that the tests had pointed to a theory that the death had natural reasons.

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Middle East and North Africa

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