It was early morning in Kabul, Afghanistan, when Fatima Amiri first heard gunshots from her classroom. At that time, she and hundreds of other students were preparing for college entrance exams, but then the girls started screaming in panic. Amiri quickly stood up to calm the class, but when she turned around, she saw a man with a gun deliberately shooting the students.

“I was scared, I tried to take shelter under the desks when an explosion happened,” said the 17-year-old.

Amiri lost an eye and an eardrum as a result of the explosion. His jaw was also badly damaged. A total of 54 other students, most of them girls, were killed.

As a minority, Afghanistan’s Shiites have long been targeted and persecuted.

Amiri lives near Dasht-e-Barchi, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in western Kabul city. Terrorists target mosques, schools, sports clubs and Shiite cultural centers. A horrific attack on a maternity hospital in 2020 killed 20 civilians, including women and their newborns.

Amiri knew that attending school was risky from a safety perspective. However, she never thought that one day a terrorist would try to kill her in a classroom.

Undeterred, two weeks after the attack, Amiri sat for a university entrance exam and was declared a top scorer.

“I want to tell the terrorists that no matter how much oppression you impose on us, you will not be able to defeat us!” Amiri said. “Your attacks inspire us to rise again and again.”

The UN Security Council and other world leaders condemned the attack on the Kaaj educational center in Kabul, where Amiri went for two years to prepare for the university entrance exam, but no robust security measures have been taken by Afghan political regimes to ensure the safety of Shiites who now feel more marginalized under Taliban rule.

In recognition of her courage and resilience, the BBC has placed Amiri on a list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2022.

The attack follows the Taliban’s ban on girls’ schools beyond sixth grade in Afghanistan after the group rose to power in the summer of 2021. But young Afghans like Amiri still hope the international community will pressure Taliban leaders to respect girls’ right to education and women’s right to work.

“I call on the international community to do something for Afghan women and girls,” she said. “Listen to their voice and take action. Schools have been closed to girls for almost two years now. It is possible that the university will also be closed. Currently the situation is difficult. Afghan women and girls cannot work.”

Amiri’s prediction of a restriction on higher education for girls came true after the Taliban imposed a total ban on women’s access to university on December 20. Five days later, the regime also ordered non-governmental organizations to prevent women from coming to work. Although the ban on women’s access to education and work has drawn strong condemnation from the international community, Taliban leaders have said they will not compromise.