Swiss experts support the possibility that Palestine’s Arafat was poisoned

Swiss radiation experts confirmed on Monday that they have found traces of polonium on clothing used by Yasser Arafat which "support the possibility" that veteran Palestinian leader was poisoned.                         

In a report published by the general medical journal The Lancet, the team provided scientific details to media statements made in 2012 that they had found polonium on Arafat's belongings.                 

Arafat’s remains were exhumed in November 2012 and samples were taken to investigate whether he had been poisoned -- a suspicion that grew after the assassination of Russian ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.                          

In the aforementioned report, eight scientists who are working at the Institute of Radiation Physics and University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne said they had carried out radiological tests on 75 samples.                          

The scientists added that thirty-eight samples were taken from Arafat's belongings, including underwear, a shapka hat, toothbrush, a hospital cap and sportswear and noted that they were provided by the Palestinian leader's widow Suha Arafat.                

The polonium samples were measured at "several mBq," or millibecquerels, a unit of radioactivity.          

The report also mentions that Arafat's clinical symptoms "could not rule out" polonium poisoning, stating that the symptoms include nausea, vomiting, fatigue and abdominal pain.