Ylva Anna Maria Lindh (19 June 1957 – 11 September 2003) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician and lawyer who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her death.

On 10 September 2003, four days before a referendum on replacing the Swedish krona with the euro as currency, Lindh was stabbed by Mijailo Mijailović at the NK department store in central Stockholm; she died the next morning at Karolinska University Hospital.

At age 12, she became involved in politics after joining a local branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, becoming its district chairman when she was 13.

[1] Her six years as president were marked by a commitment to international affairs (including Nicaragua, Vietnam, South Africa and Palestine) and against the arms race which characterized the Cold War.

[8] Having made influential friends around the world as president of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, Lindh ardently supported international cooperation through the United Nations and in the European Union.

Travelling with European Union Foreign and Security Policy Spokesman Javier Solana in North Macedonia, during the Kosovo-Macedonian crisis, she negotiated an agreement which averted a civil war in the country.

[1] Another talking point in her career was the violent repatriation of Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad al-Zery from Sweden to Egypt, an operation carried out by the US military.

According to a 2009 book published by journalist and friend of Lindh Eva Franchell, Göran Persson claimed the US administration would place a trade embargo on the European Union if Sweden did not let the Americans pick up Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad al-Zery on Swedish soil.

She advocated greater respect for international law and human rights in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, criticising Ariel Sharon's Israeli government, but also condemning Palestinian suicide bombings as "atrocities".

[5] On 10 September 2003, while shopping in the ladies' section of the Nordiska Kompaniet department store in central Stockholm for a televised debate later that night on the referendum about Sweden's adoption of the euro, Lindh was stabbed in the chest, abdomen and arms.

Lindh reportedly experienced severe internal bleeding and liver damage; her condition remained grave, although she appeared to have improved immediately after the surgery.

After a private briefing of her relatives and the government (and contradicting news coverage that she was alive in "grave" but "stable" condition), the announcement of her death made headlines across the European Union.

[15] Several items (pieces of clothing and a knife) believed to be connected with the murder were found outside the department store near a Stockholm metro station.

It was announced that Mijailović's DNA profile matched that of hairs on a baseball cap left at (or near) the scene of the crime, and he resembled the man filmed in the store where Lindh was attacked.

[20] After denying all involvement, Mijailović confessed to the crime on 6 January 2004, providing a full account of the events of 10 September during police questioning; his lawyer Peter Althin stated that it was a "random act" and not politically motivated.

[23] On 8 July, an appeals court overturned Mijailović's sentence (after tests concluded he was mentally ill at the time of the murder), and recommended he be transferred to a psychiatric ward.

[citation needed] In April 2004, Lindh posthumously received the "Statesman of the Year Award" from the EastWest Institute, a trans-Atlantic think tank that organizes an annual security conference in Brussels.

[36] Laureates are: Amira Hass, journalist (Israel, 2004); Tostan and Anna Lindh Association (Senegal, 2005); Tatsiana Revjaka (Belarus, 2006); Khin Ohmar (Myanmar 2008);[37] Mohamed Nasheed (Maldives, 2009); Jean Zaru (Palestine, 2010)[38] [39] [40] Centre for Liberian Assistance (Liberia, 2011);[41] Center for Roma Initiatives (Montenegro, 2012);[42] Madeleine Albright (United States, 2013);[43][44] Leslee Udwin (United Kingdom, 2015);[45][46] Svitlana Zalishchuk (Ukraine, 2016)[47] and Mina Dennert (Sweden, 2017).