Police have confirmed the death of missing journalist Sajid Hussain in Sweden

Police have confirmed the death of missing journalist Sajid Hussain in Sweden

Local police have confirmed the death of Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain after he went missing from a Swedish city almost two months ago.

According to a Stockholm Police spokesman, Sajid's body was found two weeks ago on the banks of the river near Uppsala, after which it took time for Sajid's family to identify him.

His friend Taj Baloch, who lives in Sweden with Sajid, told the BBC: "For two weeks, local police kept asking Sajid's family what color he was wearing to identify him. Did you have any dental surgery and other similar questions?

Finally, on the night of Thursday, April 30, police confirmed that the body found on the banks of the Uppsala River had been found.

The city of Uppsala is surrounded by rivers, streams and rivers, Taj said. And after Sajid's disappearance, whenever a body was found in a river or stream, we would prepare ourselves mentally. The cause of death of Sajid has not been proved yet.

Police are still gathering evidence for Sajid's autopsy, and a spokesman said the report could take time.

Sajid, from Ketch in Balochistan, was pursuing a master's degree at Uppsala University in Sweden. He recently rented a room in a hostel in Uppsala, an hour's drive from Stockholm.

But Sajid has been missing since March 2 after shifting to a hostel.

His friends lodged a report with the police on March 3, and the local police began work regularly on March 5.

According to a police spokesman, Sajid's bag and laptop were found in a hostel room, while travel documents such as a passport and other documents were missing.

On the other hand, Jenny Johnson and her colleagues at the Missing Persons Foundation in Stockholm have been searching the area around the hostel since March 2, as well as in the city's forests and rivers.

And two months later, Sajid's body was found in the river near Uppsala.

Sajid Hussain worked in Karachi, first for the Daily Times and then for The News from 2008 to 2012.

Image copyrightSAJID HUSSAIN / FACEBOOK

Image captionSajid Hussain's brother Wajid Baloch had said that "Sajid cannot be so irresponsible that he goes somewhere for such a long time without telling his family."

Sajid's brother said that in 2012, "Sajid left the country in an emergency and took refuge in Oman to save his life."

According to Sajid's friend Taj Baloch, Sajid had decided to leave the country after his family and friends were forcibly disappeared and later killed.

According to his friend, Sajid had no hope of surviving while living in the country.

So before he left for Oman, he emailed a chapter of his book to his friend and asked him to give it to his daughter Tehir when she was eighteen.

After living in Oman for two years, Sajid moved to Dubai and then to Uganda.

During this period, Sajid also worked in a transport company. Meanwhile, Sajid also wrote an article on the journey from journalist to transporter, recalling the days of journalism.

Sajid arrived in Sweden in 2017, where he was pursuing a master's degree in Iranian language at Uppsala University. Sajid applied for asylum in Sweden in 2019, which was accepted. Until March, Sajid was living in Stockholm with a friend.

And he decided to come to Uppsala based on his closeness to the university. Sajid was waiting for his daughter and wife to move to Sweden.

Talat Aslam, senior editor of The News in Karachi, told the BBC: "Sajid was a talented and capable man. His sudden departure from the country and journalism was very sad for all of us.

Sajid was the editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Balochistan Times.