PARIS — Yasser Arafat's widow says French judges will visit the West Bank town of Ramallah as part of a probe into his death.

The circumstances of the Palestinian leader's death eight years ago in a French military hospital have long aroused suspicion, with a Swiss laboratory recently claiming it had detected radioactive polonium-210 on his clothing.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reluctantly agreed this summer to allow Arafat's remains to be exhumed after the new evidence prompted his widow, Suha Arafat, to seek a criminal investigation in France.

In a statement issued through her French and British lawyers Wednesday, she said three investigating judges in charge of the case from a western Paris suburb say they are arranging a visit to Ramallah.

The statement said French scientific experts will "soon" be able to take samples from Arafat's body, without elaborating.