He was born in 1967 in Erbil, Kurdistan. He is married with three children and has worked with the World Food Program (WFP) for 13 years as a communications specialist.
Shahid Botan graduated from the College of Engineering in Erbil in 1989. He holds a master's degree in information technology from the University of Oxford. In 2005, he moved to Sudan as a communications specialist for the World Food Program (WFP). He moved to Sudan from Amman and then to Dubai, UAE in 2006, where he worked as an international employee at the organization's headquarters.
On Monday, 05-10-2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at their headquarters in Islamabad, killing Botan Ahmad and several other of his Pakistani friends of the organization.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the suicide bombing and suspended all UN activities in Pakistan.[1]