First results of Arafat remains examination expected in February

PanARMENIAN.Net - Experts from the Russian Biomedical Agency are expected to get first results of Palestinian ex-leader Yasser Arafat’s remains examination by the end of February 2013, a representative of the agency told Russian reporters, according to The Voice of Russia.

Valimir Uyba said the Russian panel of scientists was still “building a mathematic model of the first sample,” which will show whether the amount of poison found on Arafat’s clothing could prove lethal for the aged Palestinian leader.

The model can require up to 2-3 moths to be built, he said, adding the first results will be reported in due time.

Mrs Suha Arafat, the widow of Arafat, has categorically dismissed reports that she objected to Russian involvement in examining the remains of her late husband for traces of radioactive polonium.

Appearing on the Russia Today television network last week, she said the Palestinians see Russia as a trustworthy friend and rely on its help.

On November 27, international forensic experts briefly exhumed Arafat’s body and took tissue samples from it. These samples are now under examination in Russian, Swiss and French laboratories. The scientists there are trying to determine whether the Palestinian leader might have been poisoned.

The examination of the samples of Yaseer Arafat’s body will be completed in several months, head of the Palestinian investigation group Taufik Tiraui said.