This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/missing-pakistani-journalist-found-dead-in-sweden-sajid-hussain

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Missing Pakistani journalist found dead in Sweden Exiled Pakistani journalist found dead in Sweden
(about 1 hour later)
Sajid Hussain, who wrote about drug trafficking, went missing in March Sajid Hussain, who wrote about human rights violations, went missing in March
A Pakistani journalist living in exile in Sweden who has been missing since March has been found dead, police have said. A Pakistani journalist living in exile in Sweden who has been missing since March has been found dead in a river.
“His body was found on 23 April in the Fyris river outside Uppsala,” police spokesman Jonas Eronen told AFP. Sajid Hussain, who was granted political asylum in Sweden in 2019 after fleeing Pakistan, had not been seen 2 March. He was last seen boarding a train to Uppsala, a city 35 miles (56km) north of Stockholm.
Sajid Hussain, from the troubled south-western province of Baluchistan, was working part-time as a professor in Uppsala, about 35 miles (60km) north of Stockholm, when he went missing on 2 March. “His body was found on 23 April in the Fyris river outside Uppsala,” confirmed police spokesman Jonas Eronen.
He was also the chief editor of the Baluchistan Times, an online magazine he had set up, in which he wrote about drug trafficking, forced disappearances and a long-running insurgency. Hussain fled Pakistan in 2012 after his reporting on forced disappearances and human rights violations in the troubled region of Balochistan had resulted in the police raiding his house and interrogating his family, as well as him receiving death threats.
“The autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicion that he was the victim of a crime,” Eronen said.
The police spokesman added that while a crime could not be completely ruled out, Hussain’s death could equally have been the result of an accident or a suicide.The police spokesman added that while a crime could not be completely ruled out, Hussain’s death could equally have been the result of an accident or a suicide.
“As long as a crime cannot be excluded, there remains the risk that his death is linked to his work as a journalist,” Erik Halkjaer, the head of the Swedish branch of Reporters without Borders (RSF), told AFP. “The autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicion that he was the victim of a crime,” Eronen said.
According to the RSF, Hussain was last seen getting on to a train for Uppsala in Stockholm. “As long as a crime cannot be excluded, there remains the risk that his death is linked to his work as a journalist,” said Erik Halkjaer, the head of the Swedish branch of Reporters without Borders (RSF).
Hussain came to Sweden in 2017 and secured political asylum in 2019. RSF said that Hussain’s controversial profile meant it could not be ruled out that he had been abducted and killed “at the behest of a Pakistani intelligence agency”. The Pakistan foreign ministry declined to comment.
The Pakistan foreign ministry declined to comment when asked about Hussain by AFP. From abroad, Hussain had continued his fearless journalism as chief editor of the Baluchistan Times, an online magazine he founded, in which he wrote about drug trafficking, forced disappearances and a long-running insurgency.
He had arrived in Sweden in 2018, after previously moving from the United Arab Emirates to Oman and then Uganda. According to his family and friends, 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
Pakistan is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for a journalist, where they are regularly harassed and killed. According to the 2019 RSF Press Freedom Index, Pakistan ranked 142 out of 180 countries.