Pakistan’s Malala, rights champion and Taliban target, nominated for Nobel Peace Prize (VIDEO)
Pakistani children place oil lamps next to a photograph of child activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head in a Taliban assassination attempt, as they pay tribute in Karachi on October 12, 2012. Pakistanis at mosques across the country prayed Friday for the recovery of a schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban as doctors said the next two days were critical.
Malala Yousufzai, the outspoken teen advocate for girls' education victimized by the Pakistani Taliban, was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian lawmakers on Tuesday, according to NBC News.
The 15-year-old blogger was shot by Taliban gunmen in an October attack that drew international outrage and left Malala in critical condition. She had surgery on Monday in Britain and is reportedly recovering well.
Norway's Freddy de Ruiter of the Labor Party said "her courageous commitment to the right of girls to education," a position "seemed so threatening to the extremists that they chose to try and kill her," inspired the nomination bid, according to a statement cited by NBC.
Parliamentarians Gorm Kjernli and Magne Rommetveit also backed De Ruiter's call, which comes a day after Malala made her first public statement since being shot.
"I want every girl, every child, to be educated," she told the world in a Monday video released on her behalf by a PR firm. Watch it here:
In the video, she mentions the Malala fund, a new initiative that supports female education in Pakistan and launched this year with a $10 million donation from Islamabad, according to the New York Daily News.
Some speculate Malala's name was also put forward by lawmakers in France, Spain, and Canada, NBC said.
Only a select number of people are allowed to submit nominations for the prestigious prize, but even so, the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation is often overwhelmed with names. Two hundred and thirty one people were suggested last year, said NBC, citing the foundation.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is chosen by a special committee of judges selected by Norwegian parliament, with results to be revealed in October and awarded in December, according to India Today.
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