Arafat’s Widow Seeks French 'Assassination' Probe

The widow of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday formally asked for a French investigation into his death, bringing a complaint of assassination weeks after raising new suspicions that the former Palestinian leader was poisoned before his 2004 death in a French military hospital.

Earlier this month, Palestinian authorities gave final approval for Arafat's body to be exhumed. In recent tests of Arafat's belongings requested by his widow and the Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera, a Swiss lab detected elevated traces of polonium-210 — a rare and highly lethal substance — but said the findings were inconclusive and that Arafat's bones would have to be tested. And questions remain about the results of any additional tests after so long.

French doctors have said Arafat died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition.

A French judge will still have to decide whether to accept the complaint — also brought on behalf of Suha Arafat's daughter — and open an investigation.

According to a statement from the family's French lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, Tuesday's request was intended to "establish the truth in honor of their husband and father."