ABDUL RAHMAN, MUHAMMAD SAMI

(1932-2004)

   "Sami," as he was popularly known, was an important Iraqi Kurdish leader for many years until his assassination by an Ansar al-Sunna suicide bombing in Irbil on 1 February 2004 that claimed a total of 98 lives, including Sami's eldest son. Such suicide attacks in the Kurdish region, however, were rare.

   Sami was trained in Great Britain as an engineer. Shortly after Mulla Mustafa Barzani's defeat and exile in 1975, Sami joined Barzani's two sons Idris Barzani and Massoud Barzani to form the KDP/Provisional Command.Differences with the more traditional Idris led to the more progressive Sami leaving the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) (as it was now once again called) to form his own Kurdistan Popular Democratic Party (KPDP) in 1981. During the negotiations between the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Kurdistan Front in the spring and summer of 1991, Sami was one of the Kurdish representatives.

   The KPDP did very poorly in the Iraqi Kurdish elections held in May 1992. After an attempt to reinvigorate his fortunes by combining with two other minor Kurdish parties as the Kurdistan Unity Party, Sami rejoined the KDP in 1993. He then played an important role in events and was the deputy prime minister in the KDP Kurdistan Regional Government at the time of his death. In 2002, Sami Abdul Rahman suffered a minor stroke but soon after was able to return to work. His daughter, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman (born 1965), is the KRG representative to Great Britain.