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Palestinian Islamic Scholars' Association permits exhumation of Arafat's remains for tissue sample

February 17, 2014 at 11:18 pm

The Palestinian Islamic Scholars’ Association has given its approval to exhume the remains of the late Yasser Arafat in order to take a tissue sample to see if it matches the samples of his clothes containing radioactive Polonium. The presence of the deadly chemical was revealed by Aljazeera TV’s investigation into the cause of the late President’s death.

The investigation, which lasted for nine months, used the results of tests conducted by a reputable Swiss laboratory. Dr. Marwan Abu Ras, head of the scholars’ association, said: “We must now deal with the issue of removing a sample from the body in order to determine the cause of death; this is not optional but obligatory because we need to find out how our enemy plots against us.”


Asked whether his statement serves as a fatwa (legal opinion) to remove the remains, Abu Ras said, “To issue an official fatwa on this subject needs a committee of scholars and scientists, but I say through my knowledge of the subject that the Shari’ah allows this and even encourages it.”

He added that there is no room for complacency as it is part of the confrontation with the enemy. “It is almost inevitable that the enemy was behind it, but we want to know the circumstances.”

Aljazeera conducted the investigation based on Yasser Arafat’s full medical records. The analysis revealed that his last personal belongings (clothes, toothbrush, and even his hat) had abnormal quantities of Polonium, a substance that is both rare and highly radioactive.

The belongings that were subject to testing at the Institute of Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland, carried spots of Arafat’s blood, sweat and urine. The tests conducted on those samples showed that his body contained a high percentage of Polonium before his death.