Sigríður Ásthildur Andersen (born 21 November 1971) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic politician and lawyer who served as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

of Iceland from 2017–2019. She resigned as minister of justice in March 2019 after the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

found her appointments of judges to the Icelandic

court of appeals An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

to be illegal. She was a member of the Icelandic parliament (Althing) for the Independence Party since 2015. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, she left the Independence Party and ran for the Centre Party.

Education and career

Sigríður graduated from Reykjavik Junior College in 1991, studied law at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

, and became an attorney in 2001. From 1999–2005, she worked as a lawyer at the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce, sat on the Council of District Courts from 2004–2009, and then worked at a private law firm from 2007–2015. She was a deputy member of parliament for the Independence Party for a short while in 2008 and for a few months in 2012–2015. She then became an elected member of parliament in 2015.

Controversies

Sigríður was a controversial figure during her tenure as Justice Minister. She played a pivotal role in the controversy surrounding the 'restored honour' of a convicted child sex offender which led to the dissolution of the Cabinet of Iceland under prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson in 2017. In 2017, she did not follow the recommendations of a special committee list of the most qualified judges for the newly formed Icelandic court of appeals and instead hand-picked 4 of them, including the wife of fellow Independence Party parliamentarian Brynjar Níelsson. On 12 March 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the appointments had been made illegally. On 13 March 2019, in the aftermath of the ruling, Sigríður announced that she would resign as Justice Minister.

References

External links

Biography of Sigríður Á. Andersen on the parliament website (Icelandic)

Official website
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