DHAKA: Swiss experts have been invited to the West Bank to test Yasser Arafat`s remains for possible poisoning, the chief investigator looking into the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader has said.
Tawfik Tirawi did not not give further details, but the lab confirmed that it had been invited.
"We are currently studying how to adequately respond to this demand," Darcy Christen, a spokesman for the Swiss institute, said on Wednesday.
"Meanwhile, our main concern is to guarantee the independence, the credibility and the transparency of any possible involvement on our side."
The announcement follows weeks of indecision on the autopsy issue by officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA), the self-rule government that Arafat established.
Their conflicting positions and hesitation triggered speculation they were trying to quietly kill the investigation.
Last month, the Swiss Institute of Radiation Physics detected elevated levels of radioactive polonium-210 on stains on Arafat`s clothing, reviving longstanding rumours in the Arab world that the Palestinian leader was poisoned.
Source: Aljazeera
BDST: 0850 HRS, AUG 9, 2012
SA
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