Iraq President Barham Salih renounces British citizenship

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Barham Salih, the president of Iraq, has renounced his British citizenship in line with Iraqi law, the presidential spokesperson confirmed Sunday. 

“Legal proceedings regarding the dropping of his British citizenship have completed,” said Lukman Faily, the presidential spokesperson, in a statement published by state media INA.

Article 18, section four of the Iraqi constitution stipulates: “Anyone who holds a senior sovereign or security position must renounce any other acquired nationality, and this shall be regulated by law.”

Salih, a Kurd from Sulaimania who joined the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in 1976, spent several years living in exile in the United Kingdom to escape persecution by the Saddam regime. 

While there he ran the PUK’s foreign relations in London and obtained his bachelor’s degree from Cardiff University and his PhD from the University of Liverpool.

He returned to the Kurdistan Region after the fall of the regime and took several senior posts in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government – first as a deputy to Iraq’s first post-Saddam prime ministers, then as prime minister of the KRG. 

He nevertheless held on to his dual citizenship. 

Since being made president of Iraq on October 2 this year, however, Salih was required under law to renounce his British passport.