Russians to assist in Arafat grave exhumation

                    
AFP reported that French judges have been appointed to head investigations in the death of former PA leader Yasser Arafat, with the team heading for Ramallah, the French source added.

Earlier, a Palestinian official and sources close to the family of the late Arafat said that official work started on Tuesday in preparation for opening Arafat's grave on the 26th of December.                 

Sources mentioned that work started by removing stone layers that surround the grave.                                           

The Palestinian president said Russian experts will join a team of Swiss and French investigators in exhuming the remains of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat later this month.                                            

Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday he hopes that thanks to the Russian involvement, "new facts will arise or be known about the causes of death."                                                   

Arafat's death in a French hospital in November 2004 has remained a mystery for many. While the immediate cause was a stroke, the underlying source of an illness he suffered in his final weeks has never been clear. That led to conspiracy theories that he had cancer, AIDS or was poisoned.                                                     
The new probes come after a Swiss lab discovered traces of a deadly radioactive isotope on clothes said to be Arafat's, sparking new accusations he was poisoned. 


REUTERS/LBCI