Arafat's remains exhumed

Members of the Palestinian Presidential Guard moved the coffin from the tomb to a nearby mosque in the Palestinian presidency's Ramallah headquarters, reported Xinhua.

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The remains were put on a plastic stretcher at the mosque where the samples will be taken, the source said.u00a0

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Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, was present during the digging along with investigators and experts from Switzerland, France and Russia, the source added.u00a0

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The Palestinian senior Mufti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian presidency and the attorney general attended the exhumation.u00a0

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A military re-burial ceremony will be held soon. Tight security measures were taken to ensure the secrecy of the process.u00a0

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The investigation aims to find out if Arafat's 2004 death in a French hospital resulted from poisoning.u00a0

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The Palestinians suspect that Israel had poisoned Arafat when he was besieged in his Ramallah headquarters before falling ill.u00a0

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Earlier this year, Swiss experts tested Arafat's personal belongings as part of a documentary aired by Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based news network. The report cited the Institute of Radiation Physics as saying that traces of radioactive polonium-210 were found on Arafat's underwear and toothbrush.u00a0

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Arafat's widow Suha had filed a civil lawsuit at a French hospital asking for a murder investigation into her husband's death. The Palestinian leadership also decided to bring in the Russians for a more credible inquiry.

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