An exiled Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain of Balochi descent who had been missing since March has been found dead in Sweden. His body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river outside Uppsala, and the reason for death is yet to be revealed by the investigating authorities.
An exiled Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain of Balochi descent who had been missing since March has been found dead in Sweden. His body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river outside Uppsala, and the reason for death is yet to be revealed by the investigating authorities.
A preliminary investigation into the murder has been initiated, according to the Sweden police.
Hussain, 39, was a known critic of the Pakistani government who was very vocal about corruption and human rights abuses in Pakistan.
According to reports, he fled Pakistan in 2012 after getting death threats and was granted political asylum in Sweden in 2017. He was in the process of bringing his wife and two children to join him in Sweden and had been due to start a post-graduate degree at the University of Uppsala, according to close friends and family.
Hussain was last seen on March 2 and had been missing since then. Erik Halkjaer, chairman of Swedish Reporters Without Borders, had then said, "First thing we think about is that Pakistan's security services can be involved. In this situation, it cannot be ruled out that the disappearance is linked to his work."
A police spokesman, however, said the autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicions that he was the victim of a crime.
On Friday, the Balochistan Times, an online magazine that he edited, announced that he had been missing from Uppsala, a city near Stockholm, since March 2.
With suggestions that Pakistani security might be involved in his alleged murder, the memories of gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed on October 2, 2018, in Turkey, were refreshed.
Kashoggi was killed inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul when he went in to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiance. The 59-year-old never exited the building.
He was a known critic of Saudia Arabia's de-facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman and an advocate for women's rights and freedom of speech in the country.
The impunity enjoyed by the those who attack journalists in Pakistan is one of the highest in the world. Journalists are regularly harassed and killed in Pakistan.
According to the report of Pakistan Impunity Scorecard, a total of 32 FIRs were registered for the murder of 33 journalists during the period 2013-19. The courts declared only 20 cases fit for the trial of which prosecution and trial was completed in only six cases.
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 "Exiled Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain found dead in Sweden")
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