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French Court Delays Decision on Arafat Death Investigation


FILE - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pauses during the weekly Muslim Friday prayers in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 31, 2002.
FILE - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pauses during the weekly Muslim Friday prayers in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 31, 2002.

A French court has put off its decision on whether to reopen the investigation into the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat amid suspicions that he was poisoned.

Arafat died in a military hospital in Paris suburb Clamart in 2004 after his health suddenly deteriorated. The cause of death has never been clarified.

The prosecutor's office in Versailles said Friday an appeals court there postponed its ruling until June 24 or July 8.

The court can uphold or quash a decision by investigating judges who dismissed the case last year, saying there is no evidence that Arafat was murdered.

The ex-leader's widow, Suha Arafat, filed a complaint in 2012 after traces of polonium, a highly toxic radioactive substance, were found on her husband's belongings.

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