Arafat exhumation for death investigation

On Nov. 27, the buried corpse of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was exhumed, eight years after his death, for tests to see if his death in 2004 had resulted from poisoning.

The Palestinians suspect that Arafat was murdered by Israeli agents using the hard-to-trace radioactive poison polonium when he was besieged in his Ramallah headquarters before falling ill. They had launched an investigation after his death, but failed to make any significant progress.

The probe was revived this summer when a Swiss lab detected elevated traces of radioactive polonium-210 on Arafat's underwear and toothbrush.

Arafat's widow, Suha, filed a civil lawsuit against a French hospital asking for a murder investigation into her husband's death. The Palestinian leadership also decided to bring in the Russians for further inquiries.

Labs in France, Russia and Switzerland are conducting independent testings of Arafat's bone samples, searching for evidence that he could have been poisoned.

The Palestinian leadership said it will petition the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague if it finds any proof of poison in the remains.

Arafat led the bid for a Palestinian state through years of war and peace talks, and died in a French hospital aged 75, three weeks after he was airlifted from his West Bank headquarters.