'You promised you would respect their rights': Malala demands Taliban lets girls go back to school in open letter to brutal regime's leaders that is signed by more than 650,000 people
Malala has written a letter to the Taliban demanding they let girls in Afghanistan return to school.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was shot by the group's Pakistani outshoot, urged the country's new rulers to stop 'denying millions their right to learn'.
It has been one month since the hardline Islamist Taliban, which seized power in August, excluded girls from returning to secondary school while ordering boys back to class.
Women and girls were completely banned from schools and universities under the previous Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban's Pakistani outshoot in 2012, urged Afghanistan's new rulers to stop 'denying millions their right to learn'
After taking back control in August, the group ordered male teachers and boys aged 13 and over back to secondary schools, but made no mention of women teachers or girl pupils, creating a de facto ban.
In an open letter on Sunday, Malala and other Afghan women's rights activists wrote: 'To the Taliban authorities...reverse the de facto ban on girls' education and re-open girls.'
She called on the leaders of Muslim nations to make it clear to the Taliban that 'religion does not justify preventing girls from going to school'.
In an open letter on Sunday, Malala and other Afghan women's rights activists wrote: 'To the Taliban authorities...reverse the de facto ban on girls' education and re-open girls'
'Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that forbids girls' education,' said the writers, who included the head of the Afghan human rights commission under the last US-backed government Shaharzad Akbar.
The Taliban have claimed they will allow girls to return once they have ensured security and stricter segregation under their interpretation of Islamic law - but many are sceptical.
Images from some schools in Kabul show women have in places return to classes, although these are segregated and have not necessarily been sanctioned by the Taliban.
The letter's authors also called on G20 world leaders to provide urgent funding for an education plan for Afghan children.
'Discussing the importance of education isn't enough,' read the letter. 'Use the G20 Leaders' Declaration to call on the Taliban to allow girls to go to school and provide urgent funding.'
A petition alongside the letter had on Monday received more than 650,000 signatures.
It has been one month since the hardline Islamist Taliban, which seized power in August, excluded girls from returning to secondary school while ordering boys back to class
Pictured: Afghan girls attend a class at a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, in September. They are segregated from boys and are taught different subjects
Yousafzai, has been a long-time advocate for women's rights to an education and was shot in the face by gunmen from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban, in her home town in the Swat valley while on a school bus in 2012.
Her life was saved in a five-hour operation and she spent months recovering from the attack, partly at a Birmingham hospital.
She was the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her advocacy.
Now 24 years old, she advocates for girls' education, with her non-profit Malala Fund having invested £1.5million in Afghanistan.
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