TNI Bureau: Late Palestinian leader Yaseer Arafat’s tomb was exhumed today to find out more clues to his unresolved death mystery. An international team of scientists would examine whether Arafat died of poisoning or not.
Support Independent Journalism? Keep us live.
The scientists from Russia, Switzerland, France and many other countries were present when the tomb was excavated. Tawfiq Tirawi – the head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat’s death, was also present.
The remains were moved to a mosque near the tomb. The doctors would collect the bone samples, which would be sent for forensic examinations. The tests could take months. Earlier, Swiss experts had detected Polonium 210 – a lethal radioactive substance from Arafat’s personal belongings, leading to the suspicion that he could have been poisoned.
Yaseer Arafat died in November 2004 of illness. But Palestine had alleged that he was poisoned by Israel.