Epigraph:
And there is life for you in the law of retaliation, O men of understanding, that you may enjoy security. (Al Quran 2:180)
Malala Yousafzai poses for her Nobel Prize in October 2014
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan sentenced 10 men to life in prison on Thursday for the 2012 attack on teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai, the BBC reported.
Yousafzai was just 15 years old when she was shot in the head while riding her school bus in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat valley because she angered the Taliban by publicly campaigning for girls’ education. The attack, which drew international attention, also wounded two of her school friends.
Authorities said the defendants were all members of the Pakistani Taliban, ITV News reported.
Ataullah Khan, the militant police described as the chief suspect in the shooting, was not among the 10 men convicted on Thursday.
After the attack, Yousafzai was airlifted to the United Kingdom for treatment. Now 17, she is the co-founder of the Malala Fund, an organization that aims to “empower girls through education,” and the author of the bestselling memoir, “I Am Malala.” Yousafzai has also traveled all over the the world to make speeches and media appearances that promote human rights and encourage universal access to education.
In 2014, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts.
“Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzay has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on its website. “Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”
Malala Yousafzai signs United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s guest books as Ban Ki-moon, center, and youth delegates look on, Friday, July 12, 2013 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Yousafzai is still unable to return to Pakistan, Reuters reported, because of Taliban death threats against her and her family. She now lives in the United Kingdom.
Additional Reading
Three Hijabis: The Three Muslim Women, Who Received Nobel Prize
Categories: Asia, Law, Law and Religion, Law Enforcement, Pakistan, The Muslim Times
Quoting BBC
A court in north-west Pakistan has jailed 10 men for life for the attack on education activist Malala Yousafzai.
Ms Yousafzai, who was 15 at the time, was shot in the head on board her school bus in the Swat valley in 2012, in an attack that shocked the world.
She was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for children’s rights, despite the risk to her life.
Officials say the 10 men, who do not include the man named as chief suspect, belonged to the Pakistani Taliban.
Ataullah Khan, a 23-year-old militant, was identified by a police report at the time of the shooting – but he did not appear in the list of 10 men convicted on Thursday.
They were tried in an anti-terrorist court in Swat.
Also not included in the list of the 10 sentenced, according to an unnamed security official quoted by Reuters, were the gunmen who boarded the bus and shot Malala.
The exact charges the men faced remain unclear.
Pakistani officials believe Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah ordered the attack. He is thought to be in Afghanistan.
Ms Yousafzai, now 17, was treated for her injuries in the UK and currently lives in Birmingham with her family. They are unable to return to Pakistan because of Taliban death threats.
Two of her classmates were also injured in the gun attack in Mingora in October 2012.
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A file photograph showing Laureate Malala Yousafzai displaying her medal during the award ceremony of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo City Hall, Norway, 10 December 2014.
Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaigning work
Profile: Malala Yousafzai
1997: Born in Swat Valley, Pakistan
2009: Wrote anonymous BBC blog about life under the Taliban
2009-10: Identity revealed in TV interviews and a documentary
2011: International Children’s Peace Prize nominee
2012: Shot in assassination attempt by Taliban
2013: Addresses the United Nations
2014: Becomes youngest ever winner of Nobel Peace Prize
Islam confers on women all the political and social rights, which man enjoys. She is entitled to all the privileges bestowed upon man. Beside worldly matters, women are also equal to men in the spiritual sense. Allah says in the Quran:
Surely, men who submit themselves to GOD and women who submit themselves to HIM, and believing men and believing women, and obedient men and obedient women, and truthful men and truthful women, and men steadfast in their faith and steadfast women, and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their chastity and women who guard their chastity and men who remember ALLAH much and women who remember HIM – ALLAH has prepared for all of them forgiveness and a great reward (33:36)