Doctor: Arafat killed by poison 

AMMAN, Jordan, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was poisoned and did not die from an AIDs infection, his personal doctor claims.

Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi said he believes the HIV virus was injected into Arafat’s bloodstream as he lay dying, but the real cause of death was poison, reported the Jordanian news site Amman.

"I would usually be summoned to attend to Arafat immediately, even when all he had was a simple cold," said al-Kurdi, who was Arafat's doctor for 18 years. "But when his medical situation was really deteriorating, they chose not to call me at all."

Al-Kurdi said Arafat’s wife, Suha, refused to allow him to examine Arafat while he lay dying in late 2005 in a Paris hospital and the doctor was denied access to Arafat’s body after he died, Haaretz reported Sunday.

Al-Kurdi did not say how he determined what did and did not kill Arafat when he was prevented from seeing him even in death.