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Malala to receive Anne Frank courage award

LONDON: Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai is to receive an award for moral courage, it has been announced. The 16-year-old, who was shot by the Taliban in 2012, will be honoured with the Anne Frank Award at a ceremony in London on Thursday.

Malala, who campaigns for girls’ access to education, is studying for her A-levels and cannot attend the event. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, a UN adviser on education, will accept the award on her behalf. It will be presented by the actress Naomie Harris, who recently starred as Winnie Mandela in the film “Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom”. Co-founder and executive director of the Anne Frank Trust UK, Gillian Walnes said: “Malala is one of the most remarkable people we have encountered, both as a teenager and an educator, and is as inspirational a figure as Anne Frank.”

Malala was seriously injured when she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in north-western Pakistan. She was targeted because of her campaign for girls’ education. The schoolgirl was treated in a Pakistani hospital before being transferred to the UK for surgery and rehabilitation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. She has since written a memoir about her experiences and was last year considered a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. An event in the Pakistani city of Peshawar to launch the book was on Tuesday cancelled because of security concerns.

The Nation