Yasser Arafat's body exhumed جثة ياسر عرفات نقلت لمسجد مجاور لأخذ عينات من عظامه
Yasser Arafat's body exhumed
Palestinian leader's remains have been taken
to a mosque in Ramallah to allow doctors to take bone samples
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Associated Press in Ramallah
A mural depicting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, at
Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters
The remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have been exhumed from his grave so international forensic
experts can search for additional clues to his death, Palestinian officials
said.
The remains were taken from the mausoleum in
the West Bank city of Ramallah where Arafat was buried and moved to a nearby
mosque so Palestinian doctors could take samples from his bones, the officials
said. The samples will be handed over to French, Swiss and Russian experts who
have flown in for the exhumation and who will examine them in their home
countries, the officials said. Earlier, samples were also taken from Arafat's
bedroom, office and personal belongings, they said.
The new investigation into Arafat's death was
prompted earlier this year by the discovery of a lethal radioactive substance,
polonium, on clothing said to be his.
Arafat died in November 2004 in a French
military hospital, a month after suddenly falling ill. While the immediate
cause of death was a stroke, the underlying source of an illness he suffered in
his final weeks has never been clear, leading to persistent speculation that
Israel poisoned him. Israel has denied such allegations.
The exhumation might not resolve the mystery.
Polonium-210 decomposes rapidly, and some experts say it is not clear whether
any remaining samples will be sufficient for testing.
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