Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's senior advisor Nabil Abu Rudeina Thursday admitted that Arafat was in a "critical and serious condition".
"He is in a critical and serious condition, but he is not in a coma," Abu Rudeina told journalists in front of the Percy military hospital in Clamart, southwest of Paris, where Arafat is undergoing medical tests.
Earlier in the day, the RFI television and AFP quoted a Palestinian official as saying that Arafat has lost consciousness three times over the last 24 hours and has been in a coma for several hours and now in critical condition.
While Abu Rudeina denied later the news reports, saying Arafat is "not unconscious and not in a coma."
"He did not lose consciousness. He is not unconscious and not in a coma either. He was indeed admitted to an intensive care unit as his condition is not improving despite positive preliminary tests," Abu Rudeina said.
"He is still ill and he needs additional tests but he is not in a coma or in any danger," he said.
Sources from the Percy military hospital confirmed that Arafat was in a coma and in an "extremely bad state," French media reported Thursday.
Arafat was on life support and "he is still in a coma," French RFI television quoted French medical sources as saying.
The 75-year-old Arafat, symbol of the Palestinian cause for four decades, was airlifted Friday to Paris for treatment from his headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank of Palestine, where he had been confined by Israel for nearly three years.