France launches murder inquiry into Palestinian leader’s death

Prosecutors in France opened a murder inquiry into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday, according to his widow’s lawyer, after she and a TV investigation raised new questions about whether Arafat was poisoned. Many people in the Arab world have long suspected that Arafat was poisoned, and a Swiss lab’s recent finding of elevated levels of polonium-210, a rare and highly lethal radioactive substance, on Arafat’s clothing has led to those claims.

In 2004, Arafat died in a French military hospital outside Paris of what doctors said was a massive stroke, but the Swiss lab’s tests have renewed interest in his death. The findings were first broadcast by Al-Jazeera, an Arab satellite TV station, which approached the lab on behalf of Arafat’s widow, Suha. She gave the lab his clothing along with other belongings. “This is a good step forward, any step aimed at revealing the truth about Yasser Arafat’s death is good,” said Abdallah Basher, who heads a Palestinian medical committee investigating Arafat’s death.