Islamabad: A Pakistani student, who was arrested for allegedly trying to hurt a German newspaper editor for publishing Prophet Muhammad cartoons, has died in custody in Berlin, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.
An initial report from Berlin suggested that Amer Cheema hanged himself at a prison. His trial had not started yet and Pakistan is trying to get more details.
Ellen Goelz, a diplomat at the German Embassy in Islamabad, said she had no information about the student although she had seen media reports. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry had not contacted the embassy about it, she said.
According to Pakistani media reports, a hardline Islamic lawmaker Mian Aslam met with Cheema's father in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital, on Thursday and promised to raise the issue in the parliament.
Earlier this year, Muslims held rallies across the world to condemn the cartoons. Some protests turned violent, including in Pakistan, where at least five people died in the unrest.
The caricatures - including one that depicts the prophet with a turban shaped like a bomb with a burning fuse - were first published in September in a Danish newspaper and later reprinted in other publications, mostly in Europe.
Islamic tradition bars the depiction of Muhammad, favorable or otherwise, to prevent idolatry.
Islamabad in February had summoned the envoys of nine Western countries, including Germany, to protest the publication of cartoon in newspapers.
Germany has lamented the publication of cartoons, while appealing for calm and an end to violence over the controversy.
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