The Pakistani Taliban today said teenage activist Malala Yousafzai had done "nothing" to deserve a prestigious EU rights award and vowed to try again to kill her.
The European Parliament awarded the Sakharov human rights prize to the 16-year-old, who has become a global ambassador for the right of all children to go to school since surviving a Taliban murder attempt.
Malala survived being shot in the head by a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) gunman on October 9 last year and is seen as a leading contender for the Nobel Peace prize, to be announced tomorrow.
"She has done nothing. The enemies of Islam are awarding her because she has left Islam and has became secular," TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"She is getting awards because she is working against Islam. Her struggle against Islam is the main reason for getting these awards."
He repeated the TTP's threat -- made numerous times in recent months -- to try again to kill Malala, "even in America or the UK".
Malala moved to Britain in the wake of the shooting for treatment and to continue her education in safety, and now goes to school in the central city of Birmingham.
