5 politically related poisoning cases in the world

1. Bulgarian separatist Georgi Markov

Georgi Markov was assassinated in London with ricin injected into his thigh.

In 1978, at the height of the Cold War, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was waiting for a bus in London to go home after a day of work at the BBC. Suddenly, a passerby injected him in the thigh and left him slumped over an umbrella. That evening, he developed a high fever and died three days later.

In fact, the tip of the umbrella was a weapon. The Bulgarian writer was poisoned with a liquid contained in a sheath the size of a pin. After an autopsy, the medical examiner discovered that he died suddenly from 0.2 mg of ricin, a highly toxic substance 6,000 times more potent than cyanide. To this day, the murder remains a mystery.

2. Palestinian leader Khaled Mechaal

Hamas political leader Khalid Mashal. Source: presstv.ir

In September 1997, in Amman, several spies from the Mossad intelligence agency (Israel) attempted to assassinate Khaled Mechaal, head of the political department of the Hamas Islamic Movement, by pouring poison down his neck.

Khaled Mechaal was put into a coma and was saved by the intervention of the Jordanian king. King Hussein asked the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to provide an antidote in exchange for the release of two Israeli intelligence officers.

3. Former President of Ukraine Viktor Iouchtchenko

Mr. Viktor Iouchtchenko

In September 2004, Ukrainian opposition candidate Viktor Iouchtchenko, hero of the Orange Revolution, suddenly fell seriously ill while campaigning for president against his Russian-backed opponent Viktor Yanoukovitch.

Three months later, Austrian doctors discovered that the victim had been poisoned with dioxin. Viktor Iouchtchenko became president of Ukraine in January 2015. However, despite careful care, his face was disfigured.

4. Former KGB intelligence officer Alexandre Litvinenko

Former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko.

On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian dissident and former KGB officer, met two Russians for tea at the Milenium Hotel in central London to discuss business. At the time, Litvinenko was investigating alleged links between the Kremlin and various mafia gangs. He was also cooperating with British intelligence agencies.

After drinking the tea, Mr. Litvinenko felt unwell and died a few weeks later at the age of 43, from poisoning with polonium-210, a highly toxic radioactive substance produced by Russia.

An investigation in Britain has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably approved” the assassination of the former Russian spy. Moscow has rejected the accusations and called London’s “nonsense”. Litvinenko’s poisoning has triggered a diplomatic crisis between Britain and Russia, and Moscow has refused to extradite the main suspect.

5. The Kim Jong-nam case

Mr. Kim Jong Nam. Photo: Getty.

On February 13, 2017, while waiting for a flight to Macau at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was attacked by two women who threw a liquid in his face.

After receiving first aid at the airport, Mr. Kim Jong-nam died on the way to the hospital. Traces of the nerve agent VX, classified as a weapon of mass destruction, were found on the victim's face and in his eyes during forensic surgery.

North Korea has vehemently denied any involvement in the assassination, but the country possesses VX nerve agent, experts say. The investigation is ongoing, as is how the two women obtained VX.