STRASBOURG, France: Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, won the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize Thursday, drawing a fresh threat of murder by the Taleban.

To thunderous applause announcing the European Parliament prize, the assembly’s president Martin Schulz said “Malala bravely stands for the right of all children to be granted a fair education. This right for girls is far too commonly neglected.”

The Parliament’s vote for Malala from a shortlist of three nominees “acknowledges the incredible strength of this young woman,” Schulz added.

Malala was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taleban on Oct. 9 last year for speaking out against them and has gone on to become a global ambassador for the right of all children to go to school.

In Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) immediately vowed a fresh attempt on her life “even in America or the UK.”

“She has done nothing,” TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP. “She is getting awards because she is working against Islam.”

She was taken to Britain for treatment in the wake of last year’s attack and now goes to school in the central city of Birmingham.

Feted by world leaders and celebrities for her courage, she has addressed the UN, this week published an autobiography, and could become the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Friday.

In an interview with Pakistani radio station City89 FM this week she said she had not yet earned that accolade.

“There are many people who deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and I think that I still need to work a lot,” she said. There was no immediate response to winning the 50,000-euro ($65,000) Sakharov prize from Malala, who is currently in New York. It will be handed to her at a ceremony in Strasbourg on Nov. 20.