Pakistani lies - Eight out of 10 Malala suspects 'secretly acquitted'.

Pakistani lies - Eight out of 10 Malala suspects 'secretly acquitted'. (BBC).

Eight of the 10 men reportedly jailed for the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai were actually set free, it has emerged.

In April, officials in Pakistan said that 10 Taliban fighters had been found guilty and received 25-year sentences.

But sources have now confirmed to the BBC that only two of the men who stood trial were convicted.

The secrecy surrounding the trial, which was held behind closed doors, raised suspicions over its validity.

Muneer Ahmed, a spokesman for the Pakistani High Commission in London, said on Friday that the eight men were acquitted because of a lack of evidence.

Saleem Marwat, the district police chief in Swat, Pakistan separately confirmed that only two men had been convicted.

Mr Ahmed claimed that the original court judgement made it clear only two men had been convicted and blamed the confusion on misreporting.

The trial was held at a military facility rather than a court, a Pakistani security source told the BBC, and was shrouded in secrecy. Anti-terrorism trials in Pakistan are not open to the public. Hmmm.......The 'people' who harbored Osama Bin Laden.Read the full story here.