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LONDON — Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education, has been discharged from a hospital in the U.K. after doctors said she was well enough to spend some time recovering with her family.
The 15-year-old was shot at point-blank range in October after becoming a symbol of resistance to the insurgents' efforts to deny women education and other rights. The attack on Malala, which also wounded two of her classmates, prompted revulsion and condemnation, and helped galvanize supporters of women's education worldwide.
In a statement, the hospital treating her said she had been discharged on Thursday because she was healthy enough to be treated as an outpatient.
'Malala Day' marked in Pakistan, amid security fears
"Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery," Dave Rosser, medical director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where Malala was treated, said in a statement. "Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers."
U.K. National Health Service
Malala Yousufzai was discharged from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, on Thursday.
Malala will be readmitted in late January or early February to undergo cranial reconstructive surgery as part of her long-term recovery, the hospital said. In the meantime, she will visit the hospital regularly to attend clinical appointments, the statement added.
More on this story from NBC's UK partner ITV News
Doctors said that although the bullet hit her left brow, it did not penetrate her skull but instead traveled underneath the skin along the side of her head and into her neck. The decision to send Malala to Britain was taken in consultation with her family; Pakistan is paying for her treatment.
Citing patient confidentiality, hospital authorities declined to say what her plans were to continue her education, though they acknowledge she is able to read in both English and Urdu.
The Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has been released from hospital. Yousufzai will be treated as an outpatient at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. ITN's Rupert Evelyn reports.
Malala was flown to the U.K. on Oct. 15, six days after the school bus shooting. She was treated by doctors specializing in neurosurgery, trauma and other disciplines in a department of the hospital which has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
'Spy of the West': Al-Qaida, Taliban struggle to justify attack on Pakistani teen
The wave of condemnation that followed the attack prompted the Taliban to release statements justifying their action. Malala quickly became an international cause celebre and became a contender to become Time's Person of the Year 2012.
More than 250,000 people have also signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.
Yousufzai's father said in October he was sure she would "rise again" to pursue her dreams after medical treatment.
This month Pakistan appointed Malala's father, Ziauddin, as its education attache in Birmingham. The position, with an initial three-year commitment, virtually guarantees that Malala will remain in Britain for now.
In Paris, the courageous Pakistani ten Malala Yousafzai was honored at an event marking the U.N.'s Human Rights Day. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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I am glad she is ok, hopefully she will continue to speak up for educational rights and be an example to other girls to rid themselves of the oppression by the Taliban and other Muslims worldwide!
It is time for the Talibans to rethink whether they want to refine themselves and serve for Allah, or continue to be wild animals with human brain and body structure as they are now. Let them think and decide.
I am not a Muslim, but I have everything to do with Allah. Allah is not for a specific religion or specific country. Allah is Universal, and is common to every living and non-living entity.
Malala is like my grandchild. Every Indian pays for her, and every American adores her, and every human being around the world admires her. She must continue to be what she is. May Allah Bless her.
Again, Talibans, we love you too; refine yourself; come closer to Allah, not to the Mullah you believe.
Kevin_from_NY
Right you are, and that's not all!
This is yet another example of that "Tolerant", "Peace Loving" religion that wants to force it's Stone Age social order on the entire world. I have a few ideas.
First; Let's Go into muslim countries Every five years, Hold the men at gunpoint, and offer ALL thier women assylum. Tell them "Come live with us in a place where you can get educated, do what you want with your life, marry whom you want, wear what you want, be free from the Floggings, Canings, Stonings, beheadings, hangings, and "Honor Killings" they are forcing on you, and; by the way, we won't strap dynamite to your children either. Some older ones might stay, but most of the younger ones will come.
Second: Flood all their countries with dirt cheap TV's, Radios, Ipod's, Video Games, Cell Phones, Computers, Mcdonalds, Burger King's, & Kentucky Fried Chicken's. Then sit back. They'll be so busy fighting with their teenagers they won't have time to fight with us.
Third; since; According to thier religion, dying with Pork in your body gets you a one way ticket to H#LL. Everywhere we fight them we should pack each, and every bullet, and piece of ordinance with a small vacuum packed plastic bag filled with Pork, and make sure they know it.
Do these three things, and our children won't have to deal with them because in thirty years there won't BE a Muslim religion.
Bringing half a BILLION women here might increase our chances of getting laid, but would put a bit of a strain on the system.
May God bless you Malala! Your spirit is strong and no one can vanquish it ever! I hope that you will continue to advocate for girls education and that whereever you live, you will be safe and protected by angels.
Thank you to all of Malala's doctors, physical, speech, and occupational therapists and nurses for caring for this precious young lady so well.
The world loves you Malala - never forget that. The world does not love the Taliban who will self extinguish themselves with the force of their own hatred.
Godspeed sweetie!
I smell an American reality TV show, her and a friend relocate to Hollywood and we watch them freak out.
And where the Egyptian media, and the media very rich GCC Islamic and where Al-Jazeera, which buys and kidnaps spectators of Malala story ... Pakistani beautiful flower against religious extremism and oppression against the education of the woman
Pakistan needs to eliminate Islamic Sharia law from their constitution if they really want to help their women. No one has come up with a proposal to ban the Koran from their legal system. This satanic book is the culprit of all evil around the world.
Give assault weapons to Muslim females.
It's wonderful to see/hear people in the entire civilized world honoring Malala. Let's only hope that this will not be an additional incentive to this taliban scum to undertake another attempt to silence her!
May the God of Abraham watch over this girl...and punish her attackers...This little girl can teach us allot about who we are fighting..Her struggle is the struggle of Inclusion over exclusion the struggle of knowledge over ignorance..because she asserted her RIGHTS as a Woman and a person ..She was attacked by vile creatures..who have submitted to some other God than the God of Abraham...Perhaps these vile men with small minds....know the Name of there God....but I'm sure one cannot utter IT'S name in a any Mosque..or Temple or Church...But these creatures who twist Islam into a doctrine of SLAVERY and MALICE...Have taken up residence with a Old and Powerful Being....not the Maker...but old and powerful none the less...This little girl ..Is the TRUTH TO THERE LIE....THE LIGHT TO THERE DARKNESS..KNOWLEDGE TO THERE IGNORANCE...POWER TO THERE WEAKNESS...BEAUTY.....THERE MONSTROSITY....SHE is innocent they are Cloaked in GUILT....
May she live a LONG LONG and Prosperous Life...Free of fear...and full of Knowledge ....
Young defenseless girls are fair game and we worry about collateral damage and human rights. WE LOSE! Hint: Tamil Tigers are history...why?
woman have no rights,let us hope her defiant actions against a bunch of oppressive hoodlums[the he man woman haters club]help's change things for the better.Bunch of misfits,it's my way or acid in the face,criminals,abusing women and children that are looked upon has doing the right thing.If a man commits adultery,it seems to be accepted, no matter what the lame excuse is,a woman on the other hand,is stoned to death,shot,hanged etc.What a world we live in,and they have the nerve to say death to America,our human rights isn't perfect,but it's still number better than most countries