Arhe Hamednaca (born 1953) is a Swedish politician and former member of the Riksdag, the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Stockholm Municipality between October 2010 and September 2018.[1]
Arhe Hamednaca | |
|---|---|
 Hamednaca in September 2016 | |
| Member of the Riksdag | |
| In office 4 October 2010 – 24 September 2018 | |
| Constituency | Stockholm Municipality |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1953 (age 70–71) Yiker, Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
Hamednaca was born in the village of Yiker in the Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation.[2] He is an Orthodox Christian.[3] Whilst a child Hamednaca witnessed many acts of brutality committed against Eritreans by Ethiopian Armed Forces and Highland Eritrean paramilitaries opposed to Eritrean independence.[3] He began helping Eritrean rebels fighting for Eritrean independence.[3] He was abducted and tortured for a month by the paramilitaries before his father secured his release.[2][3] A year later, in 1968, Hamednaca, aged 15, joined the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) as a child soldier.[2][3] The paramilitaries abducted Hamednaca's father, tortured him and kept him prisoner for years.[2][3] In the late 1970s the ELF began to fragment and Hamednaca left the front line.[3] He left Eritrea in 1977, first moving to Sudan before arriving in Sweden in December 1984.[2][3]
Hamednaca and his family lived in the Östberga suburb of Stockholm.[2] He studied at a Komvux whilst working as a cleaner at a kindergarten.[2] Financial circumstances prevented him from attending university.[2] He worked for Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL) from 1990 to 2002 and for Fryshuset from 2002 to 2010.[1][2] In 2002, following the murder of Fadime Şahindal, Hamednaca founded the Sharaf Heroes organisation to help young people affected by honor crimes and change perception of women.[2][3] He became a special advisor to Minister for Democracy, Metropolitan Affairs, Integration, and Gender Equality Jens Orback in 2004.[3] Hamednaca is a critic of the totalitarian government of Eritrea led by dictator Isaias Afwerki.[3][4][5]
References
edit- ^ a b "Ledamöter & partier: Arhe Hamednaca (S)" (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Riksdag. Archived from the original on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hamednaca, Arhe (7 May 2014). "S-politikern var gerillasoldat innan flykten till Sverige". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Naib, Fatma (27 May 2015). "From Eritrean child soldier to Swedish parliamentarian". Al Jazeera. Doha, Qatar. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ Kvarnkullen, Tomas (24 May 2012). "I dag firar Eritrea sin självständighet". Expressen (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ "Sverige utvisar eritreansk diplomat". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden. TT News Agency. 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.