The schoolgirl was just 14 when she survived the assassination attempt

But eight of the suspects were secretly

The Pakistani authorities have been accused of lying when they announced that 10 men had been jailed for 25 years over the attempted murder of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.

In fact, eight of the suspects were secretly acquitted in a trial held behind closed doors, it was claimed last night.

'Ten men are not behind bars, as the Pakistani authorities would have us believe. That is a big lie,' a security official told the Daily Mirror.

Eight of those Pakistani authorities claimed were jailed for the shooting of Malala (pictured) were in fact acquitted in a secret closed-doors trial, it has been claimed

Malala was just 14 when she was rushed to hospital following an attempt to assassinate her, after her calls for education for girls angered militants

Malala was just 14 when she survived an assassination attempt in October 2012 after her calls for equal rights and education for girls angered militants in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.

A bullet narrowly missed her brain when she was shot on her school bus. She was flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she was treated for life-threatening injuries.

In September the Pakistani military arrested ten men, all part of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), for the attempted murder of Malala.

Pakistani officials said in April that all 10 men were found guilty of contributing to the 'planning and execution' of the assassination attempt against Malala and received a minimum prison sentence of 25 years.

But now it has emerged that only two of the suspects were actually convicted and jailed.

'The trial had absolutely no credibility as nobody was there to witness it but a public prosecutor, a judge, the army and the accused,' the source told the Mirror.

'This was a tactic to get the media pressure away from the Malala case because the whole world wanted convictions for the crime.

'But the truth is that, whether these acquitted men were involved or not in the Malala shooting, the public has been lied to.'

Malala pictured recovering in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in Pakistan

Azaad Khan, the police chief in the Swat Valley, confirmed that only two men, named Izharullah and Israr ur Rehman, were in prison for the attack, according to the Mirror.

The Pakistan High Commission in London said the eight were acquitted because there was 'not adequate evidence', the paper reported.

It is thought that the men who actually shot Malala fled to Afghanistan after the attack and evaded capture.

Miss Yousafzai was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls' education, speaking out in TV interviews.

The Taliban had overrun her home town of Mingora, terrorizing residents, threatening to blow up girls' schools, ordering teachers and students into the all-encompassing burqas.