JERUSALEM – In a new clue to the mysterious cause of his death, Yasser Arafat suffered from cirrhosis of the liver that wasn’t caused by drinking, a French journal is reporting.

Doctors with access to Arafat’s medical file said the PLO chairman’s liver was “in bad shape,” the weekly Le Canard Enchaine says.

“The most likely scenario is that there were multiple causes of death. His coma was probably caused by the aggravation of his liver condition, in other words, the cirrhosis,” the report says.

Cirrhosis is an irreversible scarring of the liver. Alcohol is blamed in about half of all cases, but it can also be caused by viral hepatitis and other factors.