In April, global news outlets reported that 10 Pakistani men had been convicted in the attempted murder of education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head in 2012. Now, the BBC and The Guardian reveal, eight of them have actually been acquitted.
According to these reports, only two men were sentenced in April to 25-year prison terms for shooting the now 17-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the others were released due to lack of evidence. The news that 10 men had been convicted came from members of the legal community in Pakistan, who it now turns out were not at the secret military trial. Pakistani officials did nothing to correct the record after the news spread and was celebrated around the world.
The truth about what really happened in the trial is still shrouded in secrecy, and while one army officer told The Guardian that the eight men are being held until there can be a new trial, other reports say that no one knows where they are.
Malala and her family currently live in England and cannot return to Pakistan because of death threats, the BBC reports.
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