ABU DHABI // Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Foreign Minister, met Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai on Thursday, praising her courage and role as an example to girls around the world.
“The courage that Ms Malala showed, inspired her compatriot girls, as well as all girls across the world, who dream of regaining their full rights to education, and sent a clear message to all those calling for upholding ignorance and backwardness and wanting the world to go back 1,000 years,” said Sheikh Abdullah. “That can defeat guns.”
He praised the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Malala, who is 18, last year, along with Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi, saying it will honour those defiant against forces of extremism and ignorance that want to impose obscurantist ideology on others.
“It also honours girls’ right to education, that are upheld by the teachings of our religion, Islam, without extremism, seclusion or immoderation,” said Sheikh Abdullah.
Education is one of women’s basic rights, according to Islam’s teachings. The UAE’s approach to their education was nurtured by Sheikh Zayed, the late Founding Father of the country.
Image Nation Abu Dhabi recently released He Named Me Malala, a documentary about her life and her experience being targeted by the Taliban for her and her father's work advocating education for girls. She was severely wounded by a gunshot as she returned home from school in Pakistan's Swat Valley three years ago.
Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE paid for the expenses of Malala’s medical treatment in London after the attack, according to the state news agency, Wam.
Philip Hammond, UK secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, also attended the meeting.
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