Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian leader who died in 2004, may have been poisoned, according to a new study of his remains. Swiss scientists found traces of radioactive polonium in his bones.
Al Jazeera, which first obtained the 108-page report from the University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne, reports that the scientists are 83 percent sure that Arafat was poisoned with the material. They found that his bones contained 18 times the normal level of the substance in his ribs, pelvis and in the soil from his organs they examined.
“Yasser Arafat died of polonium poisoning,” UK forensic scientist Dave Barclay told Al Jazeera, noting that he’s now convinced that Arafat was murdered. “We found the smoking gun that caused his death. What we don’t know is who’s holding the gun at the time.”
According to ABC News, when Arafat died in 2004, his medical records blamed a blood disorder, which caused a stroke, as the cause of death. Then last year, Al Jazeera did an investigation called “What Killed Arafat,” which found that there was a rare radioactive material found with some of his personal items. That lead to the Swiss report, which did look into these items.
Suha Arafat, his widow, told Al Jazeera that she was given the report in Paris Tuesday. “When they came with the results, I’m mourning Yasser again...It’s like you just told me he died,” she said.
There are also three separate investigations into Arafat’s death being run by Russians, French and Palestinian investigators. The Russian investigators will be releasing their results soon, while the French report will be out after a murder investigation finishes.
image: Wikimedia Commons
