14 DAY TRIAL // A Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban over demanding education for girls in her country has recovered from the attack.
Young blogger Malala Yousafzai speaks to Diane Sawyer about her quest for knowledge, one year after the horrific crime.
"In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It's their normal life. [...] But in other part of the world, we are starving for education ... it's like a precious gift. It's like a diamond," Malala describes for ABC News.
She was shot as she was getting back from school, and her attackers justified the shooting by claiming that she was offending Islam in her blog posts.
Malala lived in Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan, an area taken over by the Taliban in 2009. Numerous murders followed their arrival, and everyone lived in fear.
"At night when I used to sleep, I was thinking all the time that shall I put a knife under my pillow. […] The time was of fear, but some people can overcome fear and some people can fight fear," the shooting victim recalls.
The radical Islamist formation particularly banned girls from attending school, prompting Malala's blog response. She had been threatened but never thought that she would be killed, since she was a young woman.
"It was always my desire before the attack that if a man comes ... I would tell that man that education is very important. [...] I will tell that man that I even want education for your daughter," she imagined the moment when they would come after her.
And they did, boarding a bus where Malala was the only girl whose face was not covered.
"At that time, I was not worried about myself. I wanted to live my life as I want," she explained her decision.
She has no regrets about her blogs and taking a stand, even if it has brought her face to face with death.
"I think death didn't want to kill me. And God was with me," she says.