The death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was the result of an unknown poison, a Jordanian doctor who started an inquiry in the incident said Thursday.
Arafat's medical reports were unable to diagnose the disease, but indications suggest that he was poisoned by a toxic substance that was not examined at the time, said the doctor, Abdullah al- Basheer, in a news conference upon his arrival to the West Bank.
Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat's successor, ordered the investigation after Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera aired an investigative report concluding that Arafat was poisoned with radioactivepolonium.
To confirm al-Jazeera's report, Arafat's body needs to be exhumed for further tests. The Palestinian leadership said it is ready to dig up Arafat's remains for the investigation.
Al-Basheer said the findings of the Lausanne-based Institute of Radiation Physics, which al-Jazeera used for testing Arafat's personal belongings, were difficult to be conclusive due to the lack of previous examples of polonium poisoning.
Arafat died at a French hospital near Paris, three weeks after he was airlifted from his West Bank headquarters, where he spent his last two years under an Israeli siege.
【新闻快讯】
7月12日，在约旦河西岸城市拉姆安拉的巴勒斯坦民族权力机构主席府，阿拉法特死因调查委员会医学组负责人、巴民族权力机构主席阿巴斯的约旦私人医生阿卜杜拉·巴希尔在新闻发布会上讲话。当日，阿拉法特死因调查委员会在约旦河西岸城市拉姆安拉举行的新闻发布会上宣布，根据现有材料和阿拉法特生前临床症状可以推断他是中毒身亡。
巴希尔医生说：“但由于当时未对阿拉法特进行尸检，目前暂时无法确认是哪种毒药导致其身亡。”他表示，由于缺乏对钋中毒案例和临床症状的研究，日前卡塔尔半岛电视台披露的阿拉法特遗物含大量钋元素无法成为其死于钋中毒的决定性证据。
当被问及将在何时对阿拉法特进行开棺验尸时，巴希尔说，考虑到阿拉法特在世界范围内的声望，巴民族权力机构将慎重处理对其开棺验尸一事，“我们还需要进行司法和宗教上的程序”。
阿拉法特2004年离世后，他的死因一直被外界质疑。半岛电视台近日播放的一部纪录片称，阿拉法特生前的衣物经瑞士放射物理学研究所检验，含有罕见的高放射性物质钋，由此怀疑阿拉法特系中毒身亡。巴民族权力机构随即同意为阿拉法特开棺验尸，以探查其真正死因。
（责任编辑:admin）
