Yasser Arafat's widow Suha lost her Tunisian citizenship, the London-based al Quds alArabi reported Monday. According to the paper, in a special decree published last week, Tunisia's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced the withdrawal of Arafat's naturalized status. The news was not reported by the Tunisian media.
The Tunisian government did not state a reason for revoking the citizenship, but sources in the local justice system said Arafat lost her "moral and material rights."
Arafat, who has been living with her daughter in Tunisia since the death of her husband in 2004, was naturalized in September 2006. Al Hayat, another London-based Arabic daily, reported that Suha Arafat left Tunisia last month. Al Quds alArabi said Suha Arafat left Tunisia a few weeks ago and has been residing since in Malta. According to this report, the reason for her departure was a business dispute with her partners in Tunisia.
It should be mentioned that last summer a Tunisian Website reported that Arafat secretly married the brother in law of President Ben Ali. Arafat denied the reports.
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
