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Police Stopped Bhutto Autopsy: Hospital Rep

Top cop says ex-PM's husband nixed post-mortem

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 31, 2007 2:25 PM CST

(Newser) – The Rawalpindi police chief prevented doctors from performing an autopsy on Benazir Bhutto, according to an open letter issued today by a representative of the hospital where she died. Chief Aziz Saud invoked the investigators' “exclusive responsibility,” CNN reports, but Saud says Bhutto's husband objected. The lack of an autopsy allows leeway for the government's widely maligned claim that Bhutto died of a skull fracture.

A video released yesterday shows her slumping as shots rang out, casting doubt on the government's claim—from which the hospital rep said he wished to distance the hospital: "[The doctors] are government servants who cannot speak—I am not." The rep contends that doctors were "threatened."

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

Supporters of Pakistan's slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto participate in a candle light ceremony in Multan, Pakistan on Monday, Dec. 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer) (Associated Press)

A supporter of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, seen in poster in background, chants anti government slogans in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/K M Chaudary) (Associated Press)

A supporter of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto drops rose petals next to her portrait during a ceremony at the site of Thursday's suicide bombing in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007.... (Associated Press)

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The aftermath of the attack as captured by CNN. (penneyboy24 (YouTube))

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Police Stopped Bhutto Autopsy: Hospital Rep