Pakistan court convicts 10 in shooting of Malala Yousafzai

Reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan â€”  A court found 10 suspected militants guilty Thursday for their roles in the 2012 shooting of Malala Yousafzai, the young education activist who went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

The 10 men were sentenced to life imprisonment under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws, authorities said.

The trial was conducted in an anti-terrorism court in Malala’s hometown of Mingora, in northern Pakistan’s Swat District, reports said. Judge Mohammad Amin Kundi handed down the verdict.

Officials had been keeping details about the trial, including its location, a closely guarded secret.

An official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case said the defendants were convicted under different sections of Pakistan’s penal code and Anti-terrorism Act and were found guilty of terrorism.

In September, a spokesman for army Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa announced the arrest of the 10 men in connection with the attack. He said the men received their orders from Mullah Fazlullah, the fugitive chief of the Pakistani Taliban.

Among the defendants were the two men accused of firing at Malala, then 15, as she returned home from school in a van in October 2012. She was shot in the head and gravely wounded, but made a nearly full recovery after multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation in Britain. Now 17, she attends school in Birmingham, England.

Malala was targeted because of her campaign for girls’ education. She has continued to speak out internationally on the topic, and was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in October.

Ali is a special correspondent.