Awais Sheikh (file photo)
Pakistani human rights lawyer Awais Sheikh, who had fought the case of the late Indian prisoner Sarabjit, has died in Sweden where he had taken asylum after receiving death threats for trying to help the "Indian spy".
He reportedly breathed his last in the hospital where he was admitted after complaints of restlessness, said a Times of India report.
Lahore-based Sheikh was well known in India especially Punjab from where Sarabjit hailed. He was a crusader of peace between India and Pakistan.
It was for his such initiatives particularly the famous case of Sarabjit that earned the wrath of fundamentalists in Pakistan and whose threats forced him to leave Pakistan. He had first met Sarabjit's family during his visit to Amrtisar.
Imprisoned in Pakistani jail for over two decades on alleged spying charges, Sarabjit had died in May 2013 after a murderous attack on him by two jail inmates.
After Sarabjit's death, Sheikh and his son were reportedly kidnaped after which he and his family had taken asylum in Sweden.