c. Religion News Service 2013
Reprinted with permission

LONDON (RNS) Malala Yousufzai, the schoolgirl and women’s rights activist from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban and subsequently flown to the United Kingdom for treatment, has been discharged from Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the hospital said Friday (Jan. 4).

Yousufzai was discharged on Thursday, but will be re-admitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull, the hospital said.

“Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery,” said Dave Rosser, medical director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. “Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers.”

Yousufzai, now 15, was shot and wounded on her way home from school last October. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying she was promoting “Western thinking.”

Earlier this week, Yousufzai’s father was given a diplomatic post in the U.K.; Ziauddin Yousufzai has been appointed Pakistan’s education attache in Birmingham, the Associated Press reported.

Malala Yousufzai was shortlisted for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2012.

(Kim Hjelmgaard writes for USA Today.)