Cabinet secy says he knows when Arafat was poisoned

"Something strange happened to Arafat around a year ago. It was on September 25, 2003...," Ahmed Abdelrahman told the London-based newspaper.

"The president shook hands with around 30 people before leaving to vomit. It was from that moment that the president's health started slowly deteriorating," he explained.

Since Arafat died in a French hospital of a mystery illness on November 11, several leading Palestinian officials have suggested the veteran leader had been poisoned, although French doctors have insisted there was no medical basis for such allegations.