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France closes Yasser Arafat murder inquiry with no charges brought

Palestinian leader's widow says his death in 2004 was from polonium poisoning but prosecutor says ‘sufficient evidence’ not found.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

French judges investigating claims that the former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was murdered have closed the case without bringing any charges, reports The Guardian.

“At the end of the investigation … it has not been demonstrated that Mr Yasser Arafat was murdered by polonium-210 poisoning,” according to a statement from the prosecutor from the court in Nanterre, near Paris.

Arafat died aged 75, in Percy military hospital near Paris in November 2004, after developing stomach pains while at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

His widow, Suha, has maintained he was poisoned, possibly by radioactive polonium-210. Levels of the radioactive isotope at least 18 times higher than normal were found in his remains.

But the investigating judges ruled on Wednesday there was “not sufficient evidence of an intervention by a third party who could have attempted to take his life,” the prosecutor said.

Read more of this report from The Guardian.