PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Ten suspected militants were convicted and jailed Thursday of their role in the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai over her educational activism.
Yousafzai, now 17, was shot in the head while riding her school bus in 2012. Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Anti-terrorism judge Mohammad Amin Kundi found the men guilty over the “planning and execution” of the attack and sentenced them to 25 years in jail, a senior police official in Pakistan’s Swat region told NBC News.
It is the first conviction in the case, but the suspects who carried out the attack still haven’t been caught.
“Though those who fired the bullets have already shifted to the neighboring Afghanistan and are living with Taliban, these 10 convicts played a key role in planning and execution of the murder attempt on Malala," a Pakistani security official told NBC News on condition of anonymity.
Yousafzai — now 17 — was gravely wounded in the Oct. 9, 2012, attack. She was taken to Britain for long-term treatment, including several surgeries, and was last year named joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
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