Arafat's Body Loaded With Radioactive Poison: Study

Scientists 83% sure he was poisoned with polonium
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 6, 2013 11:11 AM CST
Arafat's Body Loaded With Radioactive Poison: Study
FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 2, 2004 file photo, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pauses during an emergency cabinet session, at his compound, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Palestinian official says the remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012...   (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File)

Yasser Arafat's recently exhumed body contains at least 18 times more radioactive polonium than the average person's, the Swiss scientists examining his corpse have concluded. In a 108-page report, obtained by al-Jazeera and shared with the Guardian, scientists say they're 83% certain that Arafat was poisoned, though given the time elapsed since his death, they only say that the findings "moderately support" the theory that the poison was the cause of death. But Suha Arafat took the results as definitive. "This is the crime of the century," she said.

One UK forensic scientist agreed with her. "Yasser Arafat died of polonium poisoning," he said upon reading the report. "We found the smoking gun. What we don't know is who's holding the gun at the time." Suha Arafat's lawyers have given the document to French authorities, who opened a murder inquiry into Arafat's death last year. (More Yasser Arafat stories.)

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