Followers of activist Karima Mehrab demonstrate in Pakistan for the death of the human rights defender.JAMAL TARAQAI / EFE
Karima Mehrab (37 years old), a Pakistani human rights activist living in Canada as a refugee, disappeared last Sunday.
This Tuesday, the Toronto police announced that they found his body the previous day in an area of Lake Ontario near the center of the Canadian metropolis.
The police institution has indicated in a statement that the death of the activist is being investigated as a "non-criminal" matter.
"There does not seem to be any suspicious circumstance," the institution has indicated.
Mehrab fled Pakistani soil in 2015, following death threats and accusations of terrorism, and obtained Canadian refuge that same year.
He was part of the Baluchi Student Organization in his country, which militates for the independence of the regions where this ethnic group lives.
The members of this body denounce human rights violations by the security forces.
The Government of Pakistan has repeatedly denied such allegations.
The conflict between Islamabad and the Baluchi nationalists - where numerous armed clashes have occurred - dates back several decades.
From Canada, Karima Mehrab continued to denounce the Pakistani government's actions towards the Baluchi.
In 2016, the BBC included the activist in the list of the 100 most influential and inspiring women in the world.
Mehrab had started taking courses in economics and political science at the University of Toronto a few months ago.
She resided in the city with her brother and her husband.
Despite police pointing to an accidental drowning death, friends and family have told Canadian media that Mehrab received death threats a few days before his death.
"Her husband had received messages from unknown persons saying that they would give Karima a Christmas present that she would never forget,"
Lateef Johar, a friend of Mehrab's who also came to Canada as a refugee
, told
The Canadian Press
.
Johar has claimed that another message indicated that they knew the address of the couple.
“We respect what the police say, but we will never believe or accept that it was an accident.
She was a very brave woman ”, he added.
Sameer Mehrab, the activist's brother, has told the agency that the investigation should also focus on other possibilities due to the threats received.
Amnesty International's office for Southeast Asia on Twitter described Karima Mehrab's death as "deeply shocking" and called for an "immediate and effective" investigation.
The climate of suspicion about Mehrab's death is also fueled by another case.
The body of Baloch journalist and activist Sajid Hussain was found last April in the Fyris River, near the Swedish city of Uppsala.
Hussain had resided in the Scandinavian country since 2017, as a refugee.
The Swedish police announced, after inquiries by the forensic service, that the death could have been caused by accident or suicide.
Reporters Without Borders stated shortly after that Hussain could have been targeted by Pakistani intelligence services.
