Arafat reported clinically dead; PM denies
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-05 00:48

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was declared clinically dead on Thursday in a French hospital, Israeli television said citing French sources.

File photo of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at a Palestinian police march in Gaza, July 8, 2000 to celebrate the sixth anniversary of his return to the Palestinian self rule area in 1994 and the founding of the Palestinian police.  [Reuters]

But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie denied the report, saying: "I have just spoken to the officials in Paris and they say the situation is still as it was. He is still in the intensive care unit."

Israel's Channel Two television cited unnamed sources in Paris saying that Arafat underwent a brain scan and was found to be "no longer alive."

Palestinian sources earlier told Reuters that the Palestinian president, who was admitted to hospital last week with a mysterious stomach illness, had slipped into a coma.

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