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National Geographic’s ‘Afghan Girl’ hospitalized in Pakistan

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FILE - In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, the owner of a book shop shows a copy of a magazine with the photograph of Afghan refugee woman Sharbat Gulla, from his rare collection in Islamabad, Pakistan. A Pakistani prosecutor said Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016 that a court has dismissed a bail plea from National Geographic\'s famed green-eyed \'Afghan Girl,\' arrested a week ago over allegedly forged ID papers. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash, File)

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s foreign ministry says an Afghan woman who gained fame in 1984 after a photograph of her as a refugee girl was published on the cover of National Geographic has been hospitalized after falling ill while in custody.

Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Thursday that Sharbat Gulla is being treated at a hospital in Peshawar.

He didn’t provide details but authorities say the famed green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ was arrested for holding a fake Pakistani identity card.

She has denied the charges but a Pakistani court on Wednesday dismissed a bail plea for Gulla.

War photographer Steve McCurry, whose photograph made Gulla famous, found her again in Afghanistan in 2002. She surfaced again in 2014 in Pakistan but went into hiding after authorities accused her of buying a fake ID card.

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