Barham Salih

President of Iraq from 2018 to 2022 Barham Salih (Kurdish: بەرھەم ساڵح, romanized: Berhem Salih; Arabic: برهم صالح, romanized: Barham Ṣāliḥ; born 8 September 1960) is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who has been serving as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 1 January 2026. He previously served as the president of Iraq from 2018 to 2022. Mr Salih also served as 2nd deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He is the former prime minister of the Kurdistan Region and a former deputy prime minister of the Iraqi federal government. He was elected and assumed office as president of Iraq on 2 October 2018. Salih is the third non-Arab president of Iraq, succeeding Fuad Masum, who is also Kurdish. In October 2022 he lost his re-election to Abdul Latif Rashid. Early life and education Salih was born in 1960 in Sulaymaniyah. He was arrested in 1979 by the Ba'athist regime twice on charges of involvement in the Kurdish national movement by taking some photos of protesters in Sulaimaniyah city and spent 43 days in detention in a Special Investigation Commission prison in Kirkuk where he was tortured. Once released, he finished high school