Paris: The widow of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday formally asked for a French investigation into his death, bringing a complaint of assassination weeks after raising new suspicions that the former Palestinian leader was poisoned before his 2004 death in a French military hospital.
Earlier this month, Palestinian authorities gave final approval for Arafat`s body to be exhumed.
In recent tests of Arafat`s belongings requested by his widow and the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera, a Swiss lab detected elevated traces of polonium-210 a rare and highly lethal substance but said the findings were inconclusive and that Arafat`s bones would have to be tested. And questions remain about the results of any additional tests after so long.
French doctors have said Arafat died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition.
A French judge will still have to decide whether to accept the complaint also brought on behalf of Suha Arafat`s daughter and open an investigation. According to a statement from the family`s French lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, today`s request was intended to "establish the truth in honour of their husband and father."
PTI
