'Radioactive element' on Arafat belongings

Palestinians hold candles and a poster depicting late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat during a ceremony making the anniversary of his death in the southern Gaza Strip

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Items belonging to late president Yasser Arafat were found to have been contaminated by a rare and radioactive element, Al Jazeera reported Tuesday.

Arafat, who fell ill while besieged in his compound in Ramallah, eventually passed away in October 2004 in a Paris hospital. Mystery surrounded his cause of death.

Now, Al Jazeera says the Swiss Institut de Radiophysique has proof that Arafat’s personal belongings contained abnormal levels of a rare and radioactive element called polonium.

Dr Francois Bochud of the institute was quoted as saying “an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210″ was found on belongings like Arafat’s toothbrush and iconic kuffiya.

The substance is believed to be the same which killed Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who died after falling ill in 2006 in London, Al Jazeera reported.

(www.maannews.net / 03.07.2012)

About these ads