Months after drawing flak for her marriage remarks, Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday tied the knot with her longtime partner in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Malala and her partner Asser announced their wedding on social media today. She posted pictures of the nikkah ceremony on Twitter.
“Today marks a precious day in my life. Asser and I tied the knot to be partners for life. We celebrated a small nikkah ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead,” she tweeted.
Malala was born in Pakistan. She was shot at by Taliban terrorists in 2012 when she was only 11 for speaking out publicly on behalf of girls and their right to learn, which made her a target in Pakistan, where, in her own words, “welcoming a baby girl is not always cause for celebration.”
She was taken to a hospital in Birmingham, where she recovered and later continued her activism for education for the girl child.
In 2014, after months of surgeries and rehabilitation, she joined her family in their new home in the UK. With her father’s help, she set up Malala Fund, a charity dedicated to giving every girl an opportunity to achieve a future she chooses.
In recognition of her work, she received the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2014 and became the youngest-ever to receive this honor. She went on to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford and graduated in 2020.
Earlier this year, her remarks on marriage shocked her home country. In an interview with Vogue, Malala had said: “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?”