Wednesday, August 29, 2012

.France to probe Arafat murder claims


Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat salutes while attending the Palestinian Islamic Christians Conference at his compound in the West Bank 
 
A French court has opened an inquiry into allegations that Yassir Arafat, the former Palestinian leader who died in a Paris hospital in 2004, was murdered by radioactive poisoning.
It followed the deposition of a civil suit in late July by Arafat’s widow, Suha, after a Swiss forensic institute found unexpected traces of polonium-210 on his clothes and other personal effects preserved by his wife.

Although the Lausanne-based institute cautioned that its results, broadcast on the Al Jazeera news channel, were “not sufficient to determine the cause of death”, its findings fuelled longstanding suspicions among Palestinians that Arafat was poisoned.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, said: “We welcome the fact that the French want to open an investigation and we think it’s about time for it. It should have been opened a long time ago.

“It has to be investigated because there is evidence the death was not natural and there are all sorts of question marks and proof of foul play. We have been suspecting Israeli involvement for a long time. We need closure and we need to find out what happened.”
The French investigation is likely to add impetus to plans by the Palestinian Authority to exhume Arafat’s body from the stone-clad mausoleum in which he is buried in the presidential compound in Ramallah.
The authority, in response to a plea from Mrs Arafat, said last month it was willing to order an exhumation after the results of the Swiss investigation.

Arafat, who for years led the PLO’s fight for Palestinian independence, fell ill after he had been besieged in Ramallah by Israeli tanks for more than two years during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. He was airlifted to a military hospital in the French capital where he died.

French doctors were unable to verify the cause of death, stirring claims of foul play. The reports of the presence of polonium on his effects, including his trademark headscarf, were particularly potent because the lethal radioactive substance was used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, in London in 2006.
A statement by Mrs Arafat’s lawyers in Paris welcomed the decision by the court in the western suburb of Nanterre. It said they would make no further comment to allow the investigating judges to pursue their probe with respect for secret information and without undue interference.

Lawyers said the investigation, which could involve up to three judges, was the first step towards deciding whether there was a murder case to answer. The case brought by Mrs Arafat and her daughter does not name an alleged killer, but is brought against an unnamed perpetrator X.
Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said the case “does not pertain to us”, adding: “If the French justice system has decided to open an investigation, we hope that it will shed light on this matter.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2dfcc98e-f13a-11e1-a553-00144feabdc0.html#axzz24szaX1D8 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rabbi warns Dutch populist Wilders over ritual slaughter ban.


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/rabbi-warns-dutch-populist-wilders-over-ritual-slaughter-205244682.html

Anonymous said...

"NEWS FLASH"

National Front Liverpool mayoral candidate Peter Tierney will not be prosecuted over an alleged public order offence, the BBC have reported

Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2012/08/30/failed-national-front-liverpool-mayoral-candidate-peter-tierney-will-not-be-prosecuted-over-an-alleged-public-order-offence-the-bbc-have-reported-100252-31725650/#ixzz2520IJKp2

Anonymous said...

Man guilty of burning poppies at Armistice Day protest
Mohammad Haque
Emdadur Choudhury, 26, of Spitalfields, east London, was fined £50 for offences under the Public Order Act.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12664346

Anonymous said...

ONE LAW FOR THEM - OTHER FOR US!!!

A former soldier who tied a pig's head to the gates of a Cheltenham mosque has been jailed for four months.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-19423334

Anonymous said...

No wonder people dont trust the Zionist media power.

Media Manipulation.

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/09/09/911-media-lies

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Wilders calls himself Israel's "greatest friend" and has also proposed creating a national Dutch holiday to commemorate the victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/rabbi-warns-dutch-populist-wilders-over-ritual-slaughter-205244682.html

Anonymous said...

Moral decay, political corruption and fascism are everywhere. But activists have been busy. For decades we have tried every tactic to avert catastrophe. We voted, wrote letters, gave money, held signs, protested in marches, clicked links, signed petitions, tweeted websites, wrote books, taught classes, turned off the television, programmed apps, engaged in direct action, committed petty vandalism. All for naught. Popular revolution remains the only viable tactic left.

http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-yinon-thesis-vindicated-neocons.html

Anonymous said...

Moral decay, political corruption and fascism are everywhere. But activists have been busy. For decades we have tried every tactic to avert catastrophe. We voted, wrote letters, gave money, held signs, protested in marches, clicked links, signed petitions, tweeted websites, wrote books, taught classes, turned off the television, programmed apps, engaged in direct action, committed petty vandalism. All for naught. Popular revolution remains the only viable tactic left.

http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-yinon-thesis-vindicated-neocons.html