PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A court in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday ordered that the National Geographic’s famed green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ be deported once her detention expires, a prosecutor said.
The case of Sharbat Gulla, who was arrested 10 days ago over having allegedly forged ID papers and staying in Pakistan illegally, has drawn international attention and criticism of the Pakistani authorities.
She gained international fame in 1984 as an Afghan refugee girl, after war photographer Steve McCurry’s photograph of her, with piercing green eyes, was published on the cover of National Geographic. McCurry found her again in 2002.
In 2014, she surfaced in Pakistan but went into hiding when authorities accused her of buying a fake Pakistani identity card.
On Friday, prosecutor Mohsin Dawar said she faces deportation after five days, when her 15-day jail term is to expire. He said the court also fined Gulla a sum of 110,000 rupees, which is about $1,100.
Dawar said that Judge Farah Jamsheed handed down the punishment after Gulla, wearing the traditional all-covering burqa, was brought before the court where she pleaded guilty to the charges against her.
Earlier, she had denied the charges against her, according to officials.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said she was hospitalized after falling ill while in custody.
Dawar said she is being treated at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital for a liver ailment and that she is likely to stay in the hospital until her deportation.
Gulla’s state-appointed attorney Mabshir Nazeer claimed the court treated her kindly, in view of her illness, and that it would also consider the fact that she has four children — three daughters and a son — all minors.
It’s unclear what will happen with her children if Gulla, who is a widow, gets deported.
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She’s had a hard life. I saw a more recent photo of her and she’s not aged well. She looked well-beyond her years in that photo. I feel sorry for her. She should be treated like any political refugee, with dignity and respect and be allowed to repeal her deportation. She did nothing wrong other than faking documents, but not for any serious crimes.