Eight years after shooting, Nobel-winner Malala graduates

LONDON, June 19, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Nobel Prize-winning activist
Malala Yousafzai, who moved to Britain after being shot for
campaigning for girls’ education in Pakistan, described her joy Friday
at graduating from Oxford University.

Almost eight years after she was attacked by the Taliban on her
school bus in the Swat Valley, the 22-year-old posted photos on
Twitter of her celebrations with her family.

“Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my
Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford,” she said.

“I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep.”

The photos show Malala covered in brightly coloured bits of paper
and foam — a student tradition — and having a cake with her family,
decorated with the words “Happy Graduation Malala”.

Malala first rose to prominence aged just 11 with a blog for the
BBC’s Urdu-language service charting her life in Swat under the
Taliban.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban hitman in October 2012, and
after being flown to Britain for life-saving medical treatment, the
family settled in Birmingham, central England.

She was at school there when she heard in 2014 that she had won the
Nobel Peace Prize along with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi “for
their struggle against the suppression of children and young people
and for the right of all children to education.”

The youngest ever Nobel laureate, she has continued to speak out for
girls’ education.