How many people did arafat kill

A top aide said Arafat suffered a brain hemorrhage. Arafat died in a Paris hospital that day at the age of The cause of his death has been disputed. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — Palestinian security forces cry over Arafat's grave after he was buried at his compound in Ramallah on November 12, Story highlights "I'm convinced it was a political murder," says Suha Arafat The Palestinian leader died in at age 75 Last year, his widow, suspecting he was poisoned, had the body exhumed for tests Polonium, a radioactive isotope, had been detected on his clothing and toothbrush.

That's the verdict from scientists trying to answer a question that has riveted people around the Middle East and beyond for nearly a decade: Did someone kill Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat by poisoning him with a radioactive isotope? His widow insists he was assassinated, a conclusion scientists who have completed an exhaustive study of the evidence did not reject, but said Thursday they could not confirm either.

He was fielding questions from reporters in Lausanne, Switzerland, about his group's work a day after Al Jazeera released a report prepared by his laboratory that concluded that levels of polonium measured in Arafat's personal effects and in tissues from his exhumed body "moderately" support a proposition that he died of polonium poisoning.

More Videos Arafat death report issued Bouchud said Thursday that the results "support reasonably the hypothesis of poisoning" by polonium, but he bemoaned the lack of tissue samples from just after death, which the hospital has destroyed.

Unfortunately, they disappeared. The findings, released by the University Center of Legal Medicine of Lausanne, do not address how Arafat, who died at age 75, might have been poisoned or who might have done it. Bouchud also cited the passage of nine years since Arafat died as a complicating factor. The half-life of polonium is days, which means less than a millionth of the isotope that was present at death would still be there.

A polonium expert who was not involved in the work praised the Swiss researchers' efforts as scientifically sound, but said they were given a tough job. And the mere presence of the isotope -- even in amounts significantly higher than what occurs naturally -- does not necessarily mean that that is what killed Arafat, he told CNN in a telephone interview, citing the scientists' measurement of a urine stain on Arafat's underwear.

That doesn't mean that the urine stain came from inside him. He was flown to Paris where he died 13 days later. In March , the Swiss institute concluded that there was evidence of polonium poisoning. Their official report said exposure to polonium could not be confirmed. In , the two women took their case to the ECHR after the French court of appeal upheld the dismissal of their case. These are bite-size audio Hebrew classes that we think you'll really enjoy.

This month, we're learning phrases on the topic of strength and power. Ready to get tough with us? Yasser Arafat's nephew renews accusation of Israeli role in Palestinian icon's death.

Egypt's intelligence chief reveals terms of proposed cease-fire between Israel, Hamas. We use cookies in a limited and restricted manner for specific purposes. For more details, you can see "our data policy".