Missing Pakistani journalist found dead in Sweden

Autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicion that he was the victim of a crime, says police spokesperson

STOCKHOLM: A Pakistan journalist living in exile in Sweden who has been missing since March has been found dead, police said on Friday.

“His body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river outside Uppsala,” police spokesperson Jonas Eronen told AFP.

Sajid Hussain, belonging to Balochistan, was working part-time as a professor in Uppsala, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Stockholm, when he went missing on March 2.

He was also the chief editor of the Balochistan Times, an online magazine.

“The autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicion that he was the victim of a crime,” Eronen said.

The police spokesperson 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, head of the  Swedish branch of Reporters without Borders (RSF), told AFP.

According to the RSF, Hussain was last seen getting onto a train for Uppsala in Stockholm.