Nasser al-Qedwa, Palestinian delegate to the United Nations and a nephew of late leader Yasser

Arafat, left here for France on Friday to receive Arafat's death report, the Arabic-language Radio Sawa reported.

A top Palestinian official was quoted as saying Qedwa would give the medical file to the Palestinian leadership who would in turnpass it on to competent doctors for thorough examination.

The details of the file will remain secret, but the main diagnosis results will be publicized, said the official.On Wednesday, the Palestinian leadership set up a special committee to investigate into the cause of Arafat's death.

The committee, headed by Health Minister Jawad al-Tibi, would meet with Tunisian, Egyptian and Jordanian physicians who had examined Arafat before he was flown to the Percy Military Hospital outside Paris on Oct. 29.

Under French law, only the family has access to Arafat's medical file and can decide whether to make it public.

Arafat passed away on Nov. 11 in a French hospital at the age of 75. Paris was under mounting pressure to reveal the cause of Arafat's death amid rumors that he might have been poisoned.

Paris ready to hand over Arafat's medical file to legal assignee

The medical file of the deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is done and is expected to be handed over to his legal assignees "without delay", French Defense Ministry said on Friday, while one of Arafat's nephews is heading for Paris.

According to a Palestinian official, Arafat's nephew, Nasser al-Qidwa, left Gaza on Friday and is on his way to Paris to pick up the file as his next of kin.

"We have worked four days on this file. It's ready to be given to the next of kin according to applicable rules," a Defense Ministry source said.

"On the kin list, there's no priority order. A nephew is justified to ask for the medical file, for the same reason as a wife or a child," the ministry said, without specifying the date for transfer.

According to the French law, the Percy military hospital at the southwestern Paris suburb of Clamart, where Yasser Arafat died on Nov. 11 after 13 days of hospitalization, is to hand over the file after verifying the validity of the request.

Rumors have been aired for one week in Palestine as well as in the Arabic world, saying Arafat was poisoned by Israel.

According to sources from Palestine, Qidwa should hand over the medical file to a ministerial committee set up for the inquiry of Arafat's death.

Under the French law, the family may decide to make the files public.

Source: Xinhua