Pakistan court frees 8 men charged with attack on schoolgirl Malala

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (Reuters) – A Pakistani court has freed eight out of 10 men charged with organising the shooting of schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai, police said on Friday, a move that will raise further questions about the nation’s heavily criticised justice system.

Pakistani Taliban militants claimed responsibility for attacking Malala in 2012 as she travelled home from school in Swat, northwest of the capital Islamabad. She was shot in the head and airlifted to Britain for treatment, where she now lives. Two other schoolgirls were also wounded.

Malala became a global symbol of defiance after she campaigned for girls’ education despite Taliban repression and she won the 2014 Nobel Peace prize.

Senior police official Salim Khan said the eight men were freed because there was not enough evidence to connect them to the 2012 attack.

Police had said in April that all 10 had been convicted and jailed for 25 years each in a trial held behind closed doors. It was not clear why officials had given incorrect information.