UPPSALA (AFP): Missing Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain, who was living in exile in Sweden, has been found dead in a river, police said.
According to a police spokesperson, “His body was found on April 23 in the Fyris River outside Uppsala,” adding, “The autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicions that he was the victim of a crime.”
Sajid Hussain, who was granted political asylum in Sweden in 2019 after fleeing Pakistan, had been missing since 2 March.
He was last seen boarding a train to Uppsala, a city 56km north of Stockholm. Hussain, hailing from Balochistan, was working part-time as a professor in Uppsala.
He was also the chief editor of the Balochistan Times, an online magazine he had set up, in which he wrote about drug trafficking, forced disappearances and a long-running insurgency.
Hussain had been living with a friend, Abdul Malik, in Stockholm when he went missing. In this regard, Abdul Malik said Sajid Hussain had been in a good mood before leaving for Uppsala on 2 March.
“We just want police to investigate the cause of death and give an answer to his family and friends,” said Malik. “We want to know what happened.”
The police spokesperson further said, “As long as a crime cannot be excluded, there remains the risk that his death is linked to his work as a journalist.”
According to an international news agency, the Foreign Office of Pakistan declined to comment when asked about Sajid Hussain.
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