Green light given by widow of deceased Palestinian leader; time is ‘of the essence,’ as polonium traceability diminishes, says Swiss radiology lab
August 24, 2012, 4:10 pm
Suha Arafat in 2004 (photo credit: Sharon Perry/Flash90)
The widow of Yasser Arafat on Friday agreed to have her husband’s remains tested for poisoning by polonium, AFP reported.
The news agency quoted Darcy Christen, a
spokesman for a radiology lab at the Lausanne University Hospital
Centre, as saying that the Swiss facility was “waiting for a formal,
written letter from the lawyer” before heading to Ramallah to test
Arafat’s remains for radioactive poisoning.
“Time is of the essence, you could say it’s a
question of weeks, not months, because the traceability of polonium
diminishes by half every 138 days,” Christen was quoted as saying.
In July, Suha Arafat formally requested a French investigation into the Palestinian leader’s death,
bringing a complaint of assassination weeks after raising new
suspicions that he was poisoned before his 2004 death in a French
military hospital.
Earlier this month, Palestinian authorities
gave final approval for Arafat’s body to be exhumed. In recent tests of
Arafat’s belongings requested by Suha and the Arab satellite network
Al-Jazeera, a Swiss lab detected elevated traces of polonium-210 — a
rare and highly lethal substance — but said the findings were
inconclusive and that Arafat’s bones would have to be tested. Questions
remain about the results of any additional tests after so long.
VIA WhatReallyHappened
