Arafat reportedly brain dead 12:41 AEST Fri Nov 5 2004
AP - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is now reportedly brain dead as anxious Palestinian officials hold meetings on how to prevent unrest in the event of the 75-year-old leader's death.
A swirl of reports saying Arafat had died were quashed by doctors at a French military hospital where the Palestinian leader has been treated since being airlifted to France last week.
But hospital sources say Arafat is not "technically" dead, since he was being kept alive in a vegetative state by ventilation equipment. Arafat slipped into an irreversible coma on Wednesday, reportedly while undergoing tests to determine the cause of his illness.
Arafat's aides have said their leader's condition was "complex".
Now how about that! I thought Arafat had been brain dead for more than 20 years ......
