Arafat’s death not caused by radiation

 A Russian probe into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has found no trace of radioactive poisoning, the chief of the government agency that conducted the study said on Thursday.

Vladimir Uiba, the head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, said the agency had no plans to conduct further tests.

“It was a natural death; there was no impact of radiation,” Mr. Uiba said, according to Russian news agencies.

Teams of scientists from France, Switzerland and Russia were asked to determine whether polonium, a rare and extremely lethal substance, played a role in Mr. Arafat’s death in a French military hospital in 2004.

After a 2012 report which said traces of radioactive polonium were found on Mr. Arafat’s clothing, his widow Suha Arafat filed a legal complaint in France seeking an investigation into whether he was murdered.

As part of that probe, French investigators had Mr. Arafat’s remains exhumed and ordered a series of tests on them. They ruled out poisoning, while a Swiss report said high levels of radioactive polonium indicated third party involvement in Mr. Arafat’s death.

Palestinian Ambassador to Russia, Fayed Mustafa, was quoted by state RIA Novosti news agency as saying Thursday that the Palestinian authorities respect the Russian experts’ conclusions but consider it necessary to continue research into Mr. Arafat’s death.