nuclear-news

Further tests to investigate possible radioactive polonium murder of Yassa Arafat

Swiss experts asked to test Arafat’s remains for radiation poisoning, Scotsman.com  10 July 2012  Swiss radiation physicists who recently investigated the death in 2004 of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are being invited to a West Bank mausoleum to take samples from his actual remains for further tests.

The invitation to specialists from the Switzerland Institute of Radiation Physics came as the Palestinian Authority received permission for the autopsy from family members. Mr Arafat’s nephew, former UN ambassador Nasser al-Qidwa, who was initially cool to the idea, made it clear yesterday he would not object.

In an investigation commissioned by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television and broadcast last week, researchers from the Swiss institute found elevated levels of the radioactive substance polonium on belongings used by Mr Arafat during his final days in a French military hospital that they had been given by his widow, Suha.

The researchers said the high levels may have been the result of poisoning, but stressed they would need to exhume the remains to confirm this. Senior Palestinian officials said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was determined that the tests take place….

..  because polonium decays rapidly, experts are divided over whether testing the remains
can bring such closure and will produce a clue eight years after the event. Polonium was used to kill Russian former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London six years ago.

Talal Awkal, a columnist for the al-Ayyam newspaper, predicted that Israel would try to prevent the Swiss team from carrying out its mission. But Yigal Palmor, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said: “Israel is not going to influence in any way any measure the
authority wants to take to investigate Mr Arafat’s death.”
http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/swiss-experts-asked-to-test-arafat-s-remains-for-radiation-poisoning-1-2401668

July 10, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, secrets,lies and civil liberties