Yasser Arafat's widow, Suha, requests autopsy

The Palestinian president cleared the way Wednesday for a possible autopsy on Yasser Arafat's remains, following a request from his widow after a Swiss lab said it found elevated levels of a lethal radioactive isotope on the longtime Palestinian leader's belongings.The developments have reignited a storm of speculation over what killed Arafat, who died Nov. 11, 2004, at the age of 75 at a military hospital outside Paris after decades of fighting with Israel.

Arafat's widow, Suha, who rejected an autopsy at the time of his death, said she wanted one done now in the wake of the lab's findings, first reported by the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera. In an interview with the station, she did not explain why she waited nearly eight years to have the belongings, including a toothbrush and a fur hat, tested.

At the time, French doctors said Arafat died of a massive stroke. According to French medical records, he had suffered inflammation, jaundice and a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC.

But the records were inconclusive about what brought about the DIC, which has numerous causes including infections, colitis and liver disease.

The uncertainty prompted many in the Arab world to allege he was killed by Israel, which viewed him as an obstacle to a peace treaty. Israeli officials have vociferously denied any foul play.

Francois Bochud, who heads the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland, said Wednesday that his lab examined belongings that Arafat's widow said were used by Arafat in his final days, as well as others that he hadn't worn.

Suha Arafat said the items were kept in a secure room at her attorney's office in Paris after Arafat's death and stayed there until Al-Jazeera approached the lab on her behalf at the beginning of this year, he added.

Experts found what Bochud characterized as "very small" quantities of polonium, an isotope that is naturally present in the environment.

But there were higher quantities of polonium in, for example, a urine stain on underwear worn by Arafat and a blood stain on hospital clothing than on belongings he hadn't used, such as new and unworn socks stored in the same bag.

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