Russian experts rule out radiation poisoning in Arafat death

Russian forensic experts studying the remains of Palestinian leader say he died a natural death, ruling out radiation poisoning.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat reviews an honour guard on his arrival at the Gaza Strip in this May 5, 2001 photo. Arafat died in France on November 11, 2004. Suhaib Salem / Reuters

MOSCOW // Russian forensic experts studying the remains of Yasser Arafat have said the Palestinian leader died a natural death, ruling out radiation poisoning.

“We have completed all the studies,” Vladimir Uiba, head of Russia’s Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA), told a news conference on Thursday.

“The person died a natural death and not from radiation.”

A Palestinian envoy, however, said the Palestinian authorities will press on with a probe into the 2004 death of Arafat.

I can only say that there is already a decision to continue (the investigation),” Faed Mustafa, the Palestinian ambassador to Russia, told the state RIA Novosti news agency.

“We respect their position, we highly value their work but there is a decision to continue work,” he said. “We need a result, a final and concrete result to take the issue off the table.”

A decision to ask the UN General Assembly to establish an international commission to investigate the circumstances of Arafat’s death was taken at an Arab League meeting in Cairo on Saturday.

Arafat died in France on November 11, 2004 at the age of 75, but doctors were unable to specify the cause of death. No autopsy was carried out at the time, in line with his widow’s request.

His remains were exhumed in November 2012, partly to investigate whether he had been poisoned with radioactive polonium, a suspicion that grew after the substance was used to assassinate Russian ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

Some 60 samples were taken and divided between Swiss and Russian investigators as well as a French team carrying out a probe at the request of Arafat’s widow, Suha.

The French have also ruled out poisoning, while the Swiss report said high levels of radioactive polonium indicated third party involvement in Arafat’s 2004 death.

The Palestinians have long suspected that Arafat was poisoned, with some pointing the finger directly at Israel. Suha Arafat has said that she was “completely convinced that the martyr Arafat did not die a natural death”.

Mr Uiba told reporters that his agency had not received any requests from the Palestinians to conduct a repeat examination.

“We’ve completed an expert evaluation, and everyone agreed with us. Moreover, even the Swiss withdrew their statements and agreed, and the French confirmed our conclusions,” Mr Uiba said.

But a spokesman for the Swiss investigators who conducted the studies said the Russian results did not change anything.

“We maintain our position,” spokesman Darcy Christen said, noting it was hard to believe Arafat died “a natural death” in the absence of any diagnosis.

The Russian agency in October doubted a report published in The Lancet, saying that Swiss radiation experts had found traces of polonium on Arafat’s clothing.

The Swiss team said at the time its findings “support the possibility” the veteran Palestinian leader was poisoned.

Mr Uiba was reported as saying at the time that Arafat could not have been poisoned by polonium but the agency quickly denied issuing any conclusions about the leader’s death.

* Agence France-Presse