[image: The Guardian home]
Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium, tests show
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/yasser-arafat-poisoned-polonium-tests-scientists
Swiss scientists find levels of polonium 18 times higher than normal in
first forensic tests on former Palestinian leader's body
The first forensic tests on remains from the exhumed corpse of Yasser
Arafat<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/yasser-arafat> have
shown unexpectedly high levels of radioactive polonium-210, suggesting the
Palestinian leader could have been poisoned with the rare and lethal
substance.
The Swiss scientists who tested Arafat's remains after the exhumation of
his body in November discovered levels of polonium at least 18 times higher
than the norm in Arafat's ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his bodily
fluids.
The Swiss forensic report was handed to representatives of Arafat's widow,
Suha Arafat, as well as representatives of the Palestinian Authority on
Tuesday. A copy of the report was obtained exclusively by the al-Jazeera TV
network, which shared it with the Guardian before publication.
The Swiss report said that even taking into account the eight years since
Arafat's death and the quality of specimens taken from bone fragments and
tissue scraped from his body and shroud, the results "moderately support
the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with
polonium-210".
Suha Arafat said the evidence in the report suggested that her then healthy
75-year-old husband, who died in 2004 four weeks after he first fell ill
shortly after eating dinner, was almost certainly murdered by poisoning.
She told al-Jazeera: "This is the crime of the century."
Speaking to the Guardian after receiving the report, Suha Arafat said she
would press for answers on who was responsible. "It's shocking … I remember
how Yasser was shrinking at the hospital, how in his eyes there were a lot
of questions. Death is a fate in life, it is everybody's fate, but when
it's poison it's terrible. We are mourning him again now."
With Zahwa, 18, her daughter by Arafat, she said she suspected a
"conspiracy to get rid of him", adding: "My daughter and I have to know who
did it. We will not stop in our quest to find out. I hope the Palestinian
Authority goes further on it, searching every single aspect of it. It is of
course a political crime." She said: "This is separate from the peace
process or talks. Any judicial investigation is separate from the peace
process."
David Barclay, a British forensic scientist who had studied the report,
told al-Jazeera: "The report contains strong evidence, in my view
conclusive evidence, that there's at least 18 times the level of polonium
in Arafat's exhumed body than there should be." He said the report
represented "a smoking gun".
Barclay said: "It's what killed him. Now we need to find out who was
holding the gun at that time," adding: "I would point to him being given a
fatal dose. I don't think there's any doubt at all."
The Israeli government, however, dismissed the report. "The Swiss findings
are not conclusive," said Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman.
"Even if they did find traces of polonium that could indicate poisoning,
there's no evidence of how that poisoning occurred. Before the Palestinian
Authority jumps to conclusions, there are many questions still to be
answered.
"Israel is not involved in any way. There's no way the Palestinians can
stick this on us. It's unreasonable and unsupported by facts. We will see
yet another round of accusations, but there's no proof."
Palmor said that among the scientists who tested Arafat's remains only the
French team were independent. The Swiss were commissioned by Suha Arafat,
and the Russians by the Palestinian Authority, he said. "These results
should be taken with a few grains of salt. This story is still as
mysterious as it was on day one."
Arafat died in a French military hospital on 11 November 2004, without an
autopsy. He had been transferred there from his headquarters in the West
Bank after his health deteriorated over weeks, beginning with severe
nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea around four hours after
eating dinner on 12 October. French doctors have said he died of a massive
stroke and had suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated
intravascular coagulation, or DIC. But the records were inconclusive about
what brought about the DIC. Allegations that Arafat may have been poisoned
emerged immediately after his death and theclaim was raised again by
al-Jazeera TV last
summer<
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/whatkilledarafat/>,
following a nine-month investigation culminating in the film What Killed
Arafat? <
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBT7o0piZ8E>
Al-Jazeera said it was given access to a duffel bag of Arafat's personal
effects by his widow, which it passed to a Swiss institute. Swiss
toxicological tests<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/15/yasser-arafat-traces-polonium-210>
on
those samples including hair from a hat, saliva from a toothbrush, urine
droplets on underpants and blood on a hospital hat found that the
belongings had elevated traces of polonium-210, the lethal substance used
to kill the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
The Swiss institute said Arafat's bones would have to be tested to get a
clearer answer, warning that polonium decayed fast and an autopsy needed to
be done quickly. In August last year, French prosecutors opened a murder
inquiry<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/28/france-yasser-arafat-death-murder>
into
Arafat's death. In November, Arafat's corpse was exhumed from its mausoleum
in Ramallah<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/27/yasser-arafat-exhumed-reburied-night>
in
the presence of three international teams of scientists: the Swiss team, a
French team that was part of the Paris judicial investigation and a Russian
team.
The Swiss team's report states that they carried out toxicological tests on
Arafat's "almost skeletonised body along with residues from his shroud".
The samples, including fragments of bones taken from his left ribs and
pelvis as well as remnants of tissue from the abdominal cavity and grave
soil, showed "unexpectedly high" activity of polonium-210.
Suha Arafat's lawyer, Saad Djebbar, told the Guardian the Swiss report was
"evidence that there was a crime committed". He said he had handed the
Swiss report to French investigators, whose inquiry is ongoing. French
scientists conducted their own tests as part of the legal investigation but
have not published findings as the inquiry continues.
Arafat's daughter, Zahwa, a
student
of international relations in Malta, told the Guardian: "I want to find
out who did it and their motive for doing it." She said she trusted the
French investigation to shed light on that.
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in german language
http://news.de.msn.com/politik/jassir-arafat-offenbar-mit-radioaktivem-polonium-vergiftet
Received on Thu Nov 07 2013 - 11:15:26 EST