Fears of Taliban revenge forces 16-year-old actress playing Malala Yousafzai in new film into hiding
- Bangladeshi schoolgirl Fatima Sheikh chosen for coveted role
- Name kept secret until now - no more details will be released
- Malala shot in head by Taliban for supporting women's rights in Pakistan
- Survived assassination attempt and now lives in Birmingham with family
By STEVE ROBSON PUBLISHED: 19:48 GMT, 31 May 2013 | UPDATED: 00:51 GMT, 1 June 2013
Security: A 16-year-old Bangladeshi actress has been chosen to play Malala Yousafzai, pictured, in a new film about her extraordinary story
A 16-year-old Bangladeshi student has been chosen to play the role of Malala Yousafzai in a new film about the young activist who was shot by the Taliban. Fatima Sheikh, who has no acting experience, was selected by Indian director Amjad Khan to play the schoolgirl in an upcoming biopic which chronicles her extraordinary story. But the actress's parents, from Dhaka, are so terrified of revenge attacks by the Taliban they have insisted her face is not revealed until midway through filming. After weeks of feverish speculation, Khan gave way to pressure and revealed the girl's name to the Times of India.
But the only picture to be released shows the student wearing a niqab with just a narrow slit for her eyes. No further picture or information about her will be revealed until filming is well underway. Malala Yousafzai has become a global icon following her heroic struggle for the rights of girls to be educated in Pakistan's Swat Valley which almost cost her her life. After the Taliban gained control of the area in 2007, she began writing a blog for the BBC under the pseudonym 'Gul Makai'.The terrorist militia operated a regime based on fear and imposed their will on residents by forcing men to grow beards, preventing women from going to the market and blowing up many schools - the majority for girls.
Global icon: Malala was 14 when she was shot by the Taliban for speaking up for women's rights to education
Malala wrote about these practices in the journal when she was just 11. After the Taliban were pushed out of the valley in 2009 by the Pakistani military, she became even more outspoken in advocating for girls' education.
She appeared frequently in the media and was given one of the country's highest honours for civilians for her bravery. In October last year, a Taliban hitman burst onto her school bus in Swat, northern Pakistan, and shot the 14-year-old at point-blank range. The bullet entered just above her left eye and ran along her jaw, 'grazing' her brain. It was later removed by surgeons in Pakistan before she was flown to the UK for specialist treatment at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Heroic struggle: Malala survived the assassination attempt and now lives in Birmingham with her family. She has been nominated for this year's Nobel Prize for Peace
Indian director Amjad Khan said he had to keep the name of the actress playing Malala secret until this point at her family's request
Malala's attempted assassination was condemned by politicians across the world and she was inundated with messages of support from members of the public and celebrities alike. She now attends Edgbaston High School in Birmingham and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Amjad Khan said his film will be called 'Gul Makai' in reference to Malala's original blog and filming will take place in London, Pakistan, Iran and India. He said he located Fatima Sheikh through a friend and flew out to Dhaka to do a screen test.'She is a student. She looks like Malala - but there are security issues,' he told The Independent. Filming is expected to start in the middle of July.Malala is due to publish an account of her life later this year entitle 'I am Malala'.
