THE grieving dad of a 16-year-old Brit footballer found unresponsive in a swimming pool told The Sun yesterday: “I think my son was murdered”.
Sajawal Aziz tragically died after reports said he was left to drown “for at least five minutes” during a trip to Sweden in 2024.
Devastated dad Tariq Aziz battled in vain for five days to get his son airlifted to a UK hospital after he was left in a “comatose state” on life support.
But doctors fought the bid and promising striker Sajawal’s ventilator was switched off, with the teen pronounced dead in Gothenburg.
Tariq, a garage owner in Hounslow, West London, opened up to The Sun about his grief – and told of his firm belief that his son, a keen swimmer, did not drown.
He has revealed photographs of Sajawal, taken after the tragedy while he was still alive, which show recent grazes and cuts to his face.
Tariq said: “I believe my son was in some kind of fight before entering the pool. Perhaps he was attacked before he went in the water.
“I do not believe that the visible wounds – to an eyebrow and the bridge of his nose – are in keeping with grazes had he struck the bottom or side of the pool.
“I think he may have been in an altercation with someone where he was held and hit with a sharp object, then punched before being thrown in.
“My son was a good swimmer and there is no scenario that he would have struggled in the water.”
Mr Aziz’s suspicions were aroused after initial reports suggested other people may have been in the pool before tragedy struck.
But in a later written statement given to police officers, youngsters at the scene said Sajawal had been in the water on his own before he was found unresponsive.
The desperate dad-of-three said: “I want answers. More needs to be done to investigate what really happened to my boy. I won’t be silenced.”
Manchester United fan Sajawal’s horrified parents and uncle flew out to be by his bedside after receiving a life-changing call telling them he was in a coma.
The teen’s football team were in Sweden for a tournament against rival European sides and after losing their semi-final match went swimming to “raise their spirits”.
Staff at the Nolhaga Parkbad pool in Alingsås said there was “no CCTV” and “no lifeguard was present in the pool area” at the time the footie nut lost his life.
Sajawal was then “under the water for at least four to five minutes or so in the deep end”, according to accounts relayed to his loved ones.
A family friend said at the time: “It’s just very strange… and it’s a mystery how no one spotted him.”
A Brit teen playing in a different football team in the same Gothia Cup tournament pulled Sajawal from the water.
Staff administered CPR on the teen before he was taken to Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, 25 miles away.
Swedish doctors said they were “left with no choice” but to put Sajawal on life support.
Tariq wanted to bring his boy back to Britain for treatment here.
He told us: “I had four UK hospitals willing to take my son if we got him back from Sweden in an air ambulance.
“But the Swedish doctors intervened and insisted on speaking to the UK medical teams.
“After speaking with Swedish doctors, medics in the UK refused to take Sajawal.”
He added: “I wonder what Swedish doctors told the UK hospitals.
“I will always think something could have been done to save my boy. It felt to me that there were political factors in play.
“The Swedish doctors kept pushing me to see if they could switch the ventilator off that was keeping my son alive. I repeatedly said no.”
The dad continued: “I had even contacted hospitals in Pakistan to see if they would accept my son, and try and help him out of his coma.
“I didn’t trust what was happening in Sweden, and they kept intervening in my plans for Sajawal to get other medical staff to look at him.
“The doctors I met didn’t listen to me.”
Tariq also added: “My boy was found at the bottom of the pool.
“But he was a very strong swimmer. In adversity, I know he would have kept calm and used his strength to leave the water.
“I can’t accept he just drowned.
“I have not spoken to his teammates. I was initially told they were all swimming together, then later the story went that Sajawal was in the water on his own. It doesn’t add up.”
A post mortem and toxicology analysis was carried out on Sajawal’s body in Sweden.
The Swedish Police Authority said they were unable to share information from their investigation, but police said: “I can tell you that no-one witnessed the drowning.”
Sajawal was playing for one of 128 English teams sent to Sweden for the footie tournament, in which almost 2,000 teams from 80 nations compete.
After the tragedy, the Swedish Police Authority asked British cops to get accounts from Sajawal’s teammates about what happened.
Mr Aziz said: “I think the Swedish authorities wanted to complete formalities.
“They didn’t speak to anyone at the time. My boy’s teammates were just sent questionnaires.”
A GoFundMe page set up by Sajawal friends to help with medical costs, as well as efforts to fly him back to the UK for treatment, raised £18,625.
Last week, in a moving ceremony, Mr Aziz, Sajawal’s sister and close friends handed the cheque over to the teaching staff at Heathland School in Hounslow, where Sajawal was a pupil.
The school is set to hold an annual memorial football match in his memory.
At the time of his death, Niklas Ehnfors, head of communications at Sweden’s Alingsås council, confirmed the teen had been spotted and pulled out of the water by players who were also in the pool.
He added: “In the meantime, staff were called who could establish that he was lifeless – he was not breathing and had no pulse.
“CPR was started, which continued until paramedics arrived at the scene.”
And a spokesperson for the tournament, Malin Fahlén, said staff were “extremely concerned and saddened” by events.
She said: “Now we will try to focus all our resources to support and care in the best way.”
The pool was evacuated and closed for the weekend but reopened 48 hours after the tragedy.
It was the second year running that a teenager drowned in the same pool during the tournament in Sweden.
A year earlier an Ethiopian player, 15, died after being found lifeless in the water.
