Malala Yousafzai: Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls 'are my sisters'

BIRMINGHAM, England, May 7 (UPI) -- Malala Yousafzai has lent her voice to the international outcry over the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the Islamist militants of Boko Haram.

The 16-year-old Pakistani student became one of the world's most recognizable education rights advocates when she survived an assassination attempt in 2012.

"These girls are my sisters," she told NBC News and urged world leaders to take action.

"We should all stand up together and we should speak," she said.

Yousafzai also told CNN that Boko Haram, the organization that claimed responsibility for last month's abductions, has grossly misinterpreted Islam.

"I think they haven’t studied Islam yet, they haven’t studied Quran yet, and they should go and they should learn Islam," she said. "I think that they should think of these girls as their own sisters. How can one imprison his own sisters and treat them in such a bad way?"

Boko Haram has threatened to sell the abducted schoolgirls into slavery.

"There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women," alleged leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video.

Yousafzai has joined the international social media campaign, #BringBackOurGirls, calling on the Nigerian government to step up its rescue efforts.

#Malala stands in solidarity with Nigerians & people everywhere calling for action to #BringBackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/woAjreav0W

— Malala Fund (@MalalaFund) May 4, 2014