Arafat 'will stay on life support'
2004-11-09 19:43
Paris - Yasser Arafat's vital organs are still functioning, Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said Tuesday, ruling out any suggestion of removing the Palestinian leader from life support.
"His brain, his heart and his lungs are still functioning and he is alive," Shaath told a news conference. He added that there was still no diagnosis.
"I don't see any reason to make rumours precipitating his death," he added.
Arafat, 75, is in a deep coma at a French military hospital outside Paris.
"I want to rule out any question of euthanasia. People talk like his life is plugged in and plugged out."
Shaath said Arafat's long confinement in Ramallah by Israeli forces contributed to his deterioration.
"We don't have a full understanding of why his state has deteriorated, which means we don't have a full diagnosis," Shaath told a news conference in Paris.
Shaath said the speaker of parliament would take over as president in the event of Arafat's death.
- AP