Eight out of 10 Malala suspects acquitted

Peshawar

Eight of the 10 men reportedly jailed for attempting to murder Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai were acquitted, officials said yesterday.

Malala was shot in the head in October 2012 by Pakistani Taliban militants who boarded her school bus in an attack that also wounded two of her friends.

In April, legal and security officials announced that a court had sentenced 10 men to life imprisonment over the attack, following a trial in Malala's hometown of Mingora, in Pakistan's northwestern Swat district.

The army had detained the suspects during a major anti-militant offensive and the existence of the trial was kept secret until after its conclusion. No media were present for any hearings.

Salim Khan Marwat, the Swat district police chief, said that contrary to the earlier announcement, the anti-terrorist court had cleared all but two of the suspects.

"Two of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, while eight others were acquitted," he said.

Azad Khan, the deputy inspector general of police for Malakand division, of which Swat forms a part, confirmed the details and said the trial had been held under military supervision. 

A senior court official with close knowledge of the case said, "The two, Israrullah and Izhar were sentenced to 25 years jail term, which is equivalent to life imprisonment." 

Meanwhile, a senior security official in Mingora insisted the court had sentenced all 10 men to life imprisonment, accusing the police of lying.