Abir Al-Sahlani

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Abir Al-Sahlani
Al-Sahlani in 2009
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2019
Member of the Riksdag
In office 4 October 2010 – 29 September 2014
Personal details
Born	(1976-05-18) 18 May 1976 (age 47) Basra, Ba'athist Iraq[1]
Nationality	Swedish
Political party	Centre Party
Occupation	politician

Abir Al-Sahlani (born 18 May 1976) is an Iraqi-born

Al Sahlani was born in Basra, Iraq in 1976^[4] to a middle class Iraqi family. Her father, Faisal Sahlani was a leading opposition politician. He was member of the Communist Party, which at that time, was banned by Saddams Hussein's Baath regime. She left Iraq with her mother, fleeing the brutality of the former regime, leaving behind her father, a political prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison.^[5] Al Sahlani arrived in Sweden alone at the age of 15 and began her political career soon afterwards.^[6]

Education

Al-Sahlani studied at the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet) in Sundsvall. She holds a master's degree from Stockholm University.

In 2002–2003 she was a volunteer with Nacka School (Internationella Engelska Skolan) in Stockholm.^[7]

Political career

In 2004 Al-Sahlani was appointed to the Secretary General of the Iraqi National Democratic Alliance (DNA) position.^[7]

In February 2007 Al-Sahlani became a member of Sweden's Center Party. In May 2019, Al-Sahlani was elected to the European Parliament.

Since 2021 Al-Sahlani has been part of the Parliament's delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe.^[12]

In 2024, Al-Sahlani was the winner of the "Best Speech" award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.^[13]

Time-out

In November 2013 Al-Sahlani took a time-out from the Swedish parliament due to alleged deficiencies in the reporting of an aid project in Iraq. According to the Swedish radio 300 000 Euro had not been reported correctly.^[14] Half a year later she was cleared from all charges and made a comeback in the Swedish Parliament.^[15]

Mahsa Amini protests

In October 2022, Al-Sahlani cut her hair in the middle of a speech at European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, whilst intoning the popular Kurdish YPJ women's resistance slogan, "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" in Kurdish which translates to 'woman, life, freedom' to affirm her support for Iranian women and the Mahsa Amini protests and to call on Europe to act.^[16]

See also

• Swedish Iraqis
• List of Iraqis

References