An anti-terrorism court in
Pakistan on Thursday in Islamabad
condemned 10 men to life in prison for
involvement in the attempted murder of
teenage education activist and Nobel
peace laureate Malala Yousafzai.
Malala was shot in 2012, as she returned
with two classmates from school in
Mingora town of the Swat District in the
northwest.
The military said that in September 2014
they had arrested 10 militants in
connection with the attack.
A chief court officer said on condition of
anonymity that the accused were tried by
an anti-terrorism court in Swat.
He said that they confessed to planning
and carrying out the attack on the behalf of
fugitive Taliban Chief, Maulana Fazlullah.
He said that the court found them guilty of
the attack and conspiracy to kill her and
handed down life sentences.
A police official confirmed that Fazlulllah
was wanted in the Malala attack case along
with another militant Ataullah Khan, who
was also believed to be hiding in Afghani.
Meanwhile, Shahbaz Rajput, a senior
lawyer said life imprisonment in Pakistan
“means 25 years in jail and the convicts
can appeal against the sentence in the
high court.’’
Malala, now 17, survived being shot in the
head and moved to Britain, going on to
become the youngest Nobel peace prize
winner in 2014.
She initially gained fame at the age of 11,
when she wrote a diary for the BBC in
Urdu.
Her writings documented life under strict
Sharia, including a ban on women’s
education by Taliban, who controlled Swat
from 2007 to 2009.
The rebels lost power when they were
defeated by army and their chief Fazlullah
escaped to Afghanistan, where he lives in
hiding.
