'I think Arafat was poisoned'
2004-11-12 15:33
Amman - A leading Jordanian neurologist who regularly examined Yasser Arafat said on Friday that poisoning was the "highest" probable cause of the Palestinian leader's mysterious death and urged that an autopsy be performed.
"One of the causes of platelet deficiency is poison," said Dr Ashraf al-Kurdi, who examined a gravely ill Arafat in his besieged compound in the West Bank town of Rammallah two weeks ago.
Arafat died on Thursday in Paris, where he had flown on October 29 for treatment after tests indicated he had a low count of blood platelets, components that help clotting.
Although "not definitive, I believe the highest reason for Arafat's mysterious death is poisoning," al-Kurdi told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday.
"Therefore, there should be an autopsy performed," added al-Kurdi, who had been Arafat's personal physician for the last two decades.
There has been widespread speculation that Arafat could have been poisoned by Israel. Neither doctors nor Palestinian leaders have said what caused Arafat's death after days in a coma at a Paris hospital.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday dismissed allegations that Israel killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "scandalous and false."
- AP