The Taliban in Pakistan said they are "delighted" Malala Yousafzai lost out on the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
"We are delighted that she didn't get it. She did nothing big so it's good that she didn't get it," spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told the Agence France-Presse in a phone call after the winner was announced Friday. "This award should be given to the real Muslims who are struggling for Islam. Malala is against Islam, she is secular."
On Oct. 9, 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban while on her way home from school in Pakistan. The girl was targeted for speaking out against the militant group and for promoting female education in her country. Miraculously, she recovered and has since become an icon. Now 16 years old, she continues to advocate social rights, even in the face of continued threats against her life.
"She is not a brave girl and has no courage. We will target her again and attack whenever we have a chance," Shahid previously told AFP.
NPR noted that Yousafzai was a favorite among this year's nominees to win the Nobel Peace Prize, chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The winner is typically someone who is "an aspirational figure, someone who could potentially bring political or social change, even if it hasn't happened yet." And the teen girl fit the bill.
On Oct. 10, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) was named the winner of the 2013 Peace Prize. The group won the prestigious honor "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons." Inspectors are currently at work in Syria on a United Nations-backed mission.
Yousafzai took to Twitter to offer her congratulations.
Prior to the announcement, Yousafzai told CNN's Christiane Amanpour she didn't think she deserved the title.
“When I think of myself, I have a lot to do," she said. "So I think that it’s really an early age, and I would feel proud when I would work for education, when I would have done something, when I would be feeling confident to tell people, Yes! I have built that school, I have done that teachers’ training, I have sent that much children to school. When I will be feeling proud. Then if I get the Nobel Peace Prize, I will be saying, Yeah, I deserve it, somehow. Still, I need to work a lot. I need to work a lot. And I must work a lot.”
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