New forensic study concludes Arafat was not poisoned

French forensic scientists have concluded that Yasser Arafat was not the victim of poisoning.

The findings contradict an earlier Swiss report which said the Palestinian leader was probably killed with radioactive polonium.

Arafat’s widow, Suha Arafat has promptly challenged the French conclusions as she believes his death was a political assassination by someone close to her husband.

“You can imagine how I am shocked by these contradictions coming from the best European experts. My lawyer therefore will urge that the Swiss report will be added to the French inquiry for a close analysis of both,” she said.

The head of a Palestinian commission into the matter said last November that he considered Israel as a fundamental suspect in Arafat’s death. Something which Israel denies.The Palestinians have dismissed the French report as “politicised”.

Arafat died in 2004. The official cause of death was put down to a stroke but no autopsy was carried out.

Both the Swiss and French teams have found similar levels of polonium on his latterly exhumed body, but differ in their explanations as to how it got there.