The activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai announced she had got married on Tuesday in a small ceremony in Birmingham. The campaigner for girls’ education and the world’s youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize said on social media she had married her partner, Asser Malik. “Today marks a precious day in my life,” she wrote. “Asser and I tied the knot to be partners for life. “We celebrated a small nikkah [Islamic marriage contract] ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead.” Yousafzai became the youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize in 2014, then aged 17, alongside the Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. Last year Yousafzai graduated from the University of Oxford with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE). “So happy for you my bestie!! Such a precious day that we witnessed today,” her friend, the education activist Vee Kativhu, said on Twitter. “So so happy for you my little one! Masha Allah My love and regards to all family,” Muniba Mazari, the national ambassador for UN Women Pakistan, said on Instagram. Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC in 2009 about her experiences during the Taliban’s growing influence in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan. Attempting to silence her, the Taliban shot the then 15-year-old Yousafzai in the head in 2012, which she survived. “Instead of silencing me, they amplified my voice beyond Pakistan,” she wrote in her 2019 book We Are Displaced. In 2013 Yousafzai co-founded the Malala Fund, an international non-profit advocating for girls’ schooling. In her 2014 Nobel acceptance speech she said: “This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.” “I am here to stand up for their rights, to raise their voice.” In 2017 Yousafzai became a United Nations messenger of peace to help raise awareness of the importance of girls’ education. Wedding well-wishers on social media included the climate activist Greta Thunberg, British Vogue editor Edward Enninful and thousands of others.