Tunis: Tunisia has stripped the widow of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of Tunisian citizenship, officials said yesterday.
A formal decree published August 2 in Tunisia's official register indicated that 44-year-old Suha Arafat, who was born in occupied Jerusalem and became a naturalised Tunisian last year, had lost her citizenship.
No explanation was provided, nor was any reference made to the Arafats' 12-year-old daughter, Zahwa, who became a Tunisian citizen the same day as her mother.
Suha Arafat was believed to have left Tunisia, and news reports suggested she was in Malta. She had lived in Tunisia since Arafat died in November 2004.
In an interview published yesterday in the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, Suha Arafat refused to comment. The daily said she was reached from Valletta, where her brother Ghabi Al Taweel is serving as Palestinian ambassador.
Contacted by The Associated Press, Tunisian authorities declined immediate comment, as did the Palestinian envoy to Tunis, Salmane Al Herfi.
Born into a wealthy Christian family, Suha Arafat once served as secretary to the famed Palestinian leader, and they secretly married in 1990. She was a top heir to Arafat's vast fortunes, and owns a home in northern Tunis.
