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France Dismisses Inquiry Into Yasser Arafat's Death


FILE - A poster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is seen on the rubble of a destroyed house in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Aug. 1, 2014.
FILE - A poster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is seen on the rubble of a destroyed house in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Aug. 1, 2014.

French magistrates have decided to dismiss an inquiry into the 2004 death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose widow claims he was poisoned.

The assistant prosecutor in Nanterre, Emmanuelle Lepissier, told The Associated Press that Tuesday's decision was made "because there was not sufficient evidence that Yasser Arafat was assassinated by polonium [poisoning] or the intervention by another person.''

In July, a French prosecutor said there was not enough reason to bring charges and asked that the case be dismissed, and in March, French experts ruled out the theory that radioactive poisoning caused the Palestinian leader's death.

After a 2012 report that traces of polonium were found on Arafat's clothing, Arafat's widow, Suha, filed a legal complaint in France seeking an investigation into whether he had been murdered.

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