Anna Margareta Hartman Sjödin (born April 22, 1976) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and elected president of the Social Democratic Youth League from August 3, 2005, to December 16, 2006. She was also elected vice president of the

International Union of Socialist Youth The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) is an international youth labour organization, whose activities include publications, supporting member organizations and organization of meetings. Originally named the Socialist Youth Internatio ...

( IUSY) at the congress in January 2006. Sjödin is the second woman, after

Anna Lindh Ylva Anna Maria Lindh (19 June 1957 – 11 September 2003) was a Swedish politician and lawyer. A member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her death. She was also a Member of the ...

, to be elected president of the Social Democratic Youth League.

Family life

Anna Sjödin is born in Össeby-Garn in Stockholm County and was raised outside of Enköping. She played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

in her youth and represented four times in 1994. After completing her

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

Sjödin spent one year working at a health care facility in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and after that some time at a

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. After returning to Sweden she joined the Social Democratic Youth League at the age of 19, and moved to Umeå in order to study social work and public administration () at

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

. After having completed her studies Sjödin worked at a women's shelter.

Political career

Anna Sjödin was first elected chairperson for the Social Democratic Youth League in

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), sometimes called West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in northern Sweden, located by the Gulf of Bothnia. It borders the provinces of Ångermanland, Lapland and Norrbotten. The region is famous for Väs ...

, and in 2001 was elected in to the board of the Social Democratic Youth League. In August 2005 Sjödin was unanimously elected as the new chairperson of the Social Democratic Youth League after

Ardalan Shekarabi Ardalan Shekarabi (; born 28 November 1978) is a Swedish social democratic politician. He was chairman for his party's youth league SSU 2003–2005. He was minister for social security from 2019 to 2022, and had previously served as minister ...

who chose not to stand for re-election after several scandals and divisive battles. In December 2006 she had to resign from the chairperson position after found guilty of a number of severe criminal actions while drunk. See below. Later she has taken a position as a headmaster of a

Folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

Vindeln Vindeln () is a locality and the seat of Vindeln Municipality in Västerbotten County, Sweden with 2,333 inhabitants in 2010. Climate Vindeln has a subarctic climate that is mildened for its latitude by its proximity to the Gulf Stream airflow ...

, North Sweden.

2006 arrest and criminal charges

On January 29, 2006, Sjödin was arrested by the police outside the pub ''Crazy Horse'' in

Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of Sweden's most populous and exclusive districts. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest ho ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. According to Babak Jamei, one of the bouncers, a drunk Sjödin not only assaulted him and other bouncers but also used derogatory words--alluding to the fact that he was an

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

. Sjödin, however, claims that the bouncers assaulted her and her friends. She had to spend the night in the constabulary. The prosecutor rejected Sjödins allegations, but continued investigating the allegations made by the bouncers. During the trial Sjödin continued to claim that the bouncer had shouted profanities at her and her friend and that he was aggressive, but she also admitted that she had drunk a couple of beers, a third of a bottle of wine and one tequila. The barman had determined that Sjödin was too drunk to be served, and called the bouncers to eject Sjödin and her friend. During the trial, witnesses testified that Sjödin, who is a former

footballer, had used violence in resisting her ejection from the pub.Sjödin guilty of Crazy Horse assault
, The Local, October 12, 2006. On October 12, 2006, the Stockholm district court found Sjödin guilty of assaulting the bouncer on charges of slander (),

criminal conversion Criminal conversion is a crime, limited to parts of common law systems outside England and Wales, of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else's property, at a minimum personal property, but in some jurisdictions also applying to types ...

(), assaulting a person holding legal authority () and resisting lawful apprehension (). She was sentenced to pay a fine of 120 days wages () at 300 kronor per day (36,000 kronor in total). Sjödin was also ordered to pay 5,500 kronor in damages to Babak Jamei, the doorman. The court found that Sjödin had used words of "

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

characteristic", she had used a racist slur and had said that people such as him were not welcome in Sweden. The court said that there was strong evidence that Sjödin had challenged the bouncer's authority. The court also found that Sjödin had ripped Jamei's badge from his jacket and taken it with her into a police car. Sjödin has decided to appeal the verdict to the

Svea Court of Appeal Svea Court of Appeal (), located in Stockholm, is one of six appellate courts in the Swedish legal system, as well as the oldest Swedish court currently in use (the Supreme Court being constituted only in 1789, over 150 years later). It is loca ...

.Sjödin överklagar
, Dagens Nyheter, October 12, 2006. The Court of Appeal decided not to try this case (the Court of Appeal can deny cases when the penalty is a fine). She has said she will appeal this denial, since in this case it is not only a fine, but a political career at stak

References

External links

Swedish Social Democratic Youth League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sjodin, Anna 1976 births Living people People from Vallentuna Municipality Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Umeå University alumni Swedish female rugby union players Sweden women's international rugby union players 21st-century Swedish women politicians