A Pakistani court has overturned the life sentences of eight people convicted for their roles in the 2012 attack on Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai, police said Friday.
The same anti-terrorism court upheld life sentences for two people tied to Yousafzai’s shooting in Swat, a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
As to why, Saleem Khan Marwat — a police officer in Swat whose office got a copy of the verdict — explained the court decided “not enough evidence was produced” to warrant life sentences for the eight individuals, “whereas proof was provided (for) the two convicted.”
Azam Kham, a police deputy inspector general in Swat, confirmed the court’s latest decision.
Some of the eight acquitted remain in police custody, according to Marwat.
In April, Pakistani antiterrorism judge Mohammad Amin Kundi said the decision then to convict and sentence 10 to life in prison followed a trial that featured testimony from both sides. It’s not clear what changed since, including whether the latest decision came on appeal, was made by a different judge or court, or resulted from other circumstances.
The court proceedings mark the latest in the roller coaster saga surrounding Yousafzai, who evolved in a few short years from anonymous child advocate to Taliban target to global symbol in the fight for women and children’s rights.
Born in the Swat city of Mingora, Yousafzai persistently attended school there despite the growing threat of fundamentalists opposed to girls getting an education. Not only that, she blogged for the BBC about the dangers of living in the area and the importance of girls going to school.
She was 15 when a gunman boarded her bus as it headed home from school and shot her in the head and neck. The bus driver hit the gas, and the assailants got away.
Yousafzai was eventually flown to England for intensive medical treatment. She not survived but thrived, stepping up her activism and earning the Nobel Peace Prize — which she shared with India’s Kailash Satyarthi — last year.
Last September, Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa announced that 10 were arrested in Swat for the shooting.
Authorities in Pakistan have said the people involved in the attack were linked to the Pakistan Taliban and were taking orders from its leader, Mullah Fazlullah. In fact, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault against Yousafzai, whom they labeled “a symbol of the infidels and obscenity” for her activism.
It’s not known if the man who shot Yousafzai was among those arrested, or if he is among those facing a life sentence or who has been acquitted.