The widow of Palestinian leaderYasser Arafat visited the Paris hospital where he died and retrieved his widely-sought medical records and was deciding whether to release the information publicly, her lawyer said last night.
Mrs Suha Arafat's lawyer, Jean-Marie Burguburu, said: "The decision is in the process of being examined.
"The problem is, on the one hand, to try to stop all these false ideas about the death of President Arafat - these rumours.
"Secondly, it's to make sure that there is not any abnormal exploitation of this medical file."
French officials insist French law prevents them from making Arafat 's medical records public and they have refused to announce the cause of his death on November 11. They say only family members are entitled to receive the files.
Authorities said on Thursday that they would release Arafat 's records to his nephew, Mr Nasser al-Kidwa, a Palestinian Authority figure who could resolve the lingering questions about the cause of death.
But Mr Burguburu insisted that under French law, only Arafat 's wife and daughter had the right to obtain the medical records.Palestinian prime minister Mr Ahmed Qureia promised yesterday to make public the cause of Arafat 's death, as Palestinian leaders dispatched Mr al-Kidwa to Paris to pick up his medical records.
The lack of information has provided fertile ground for rumours in the Arab world that Arafat was poisoned, despite official denials. It also left the quality of care that Arafat received in France open to question and charges that perhaps not everything was done to save him