New research suggests slain PLO leader Arafat was killed by polonium poisoning

Doha, July 4 (ANI): Former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned to death by polonium, a new research has suggested.

According to Francois Bochud, the head of the Institute of Radiation Physics at University of Lausanne, Switzerland, biological samples taken from Arafat's belongings suggests that he died from posioning.

"The conclusion was that we did find some significant polonium that was present in these samples," News 24 quoted Bochud, as saying.

Arafat, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who led the struggle for Palestinian statehood for nearly four decades, died on 11 November 2004, following several weeks of treatment.

He had been airlifted to France from his besieged headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

French officials, citing privacy laws, refused to reveal the precise cause of death, or the nature of his condition.

At the time of his death at the age of 75, Palestinian officials charged he had been poisoned by longtime foe Israel, but an inconclusive Palestinian investigation in 2005 ruled out cancer, Aids or poisoning. (ANI)