He was born in 1950 in Sulaymaniyah.
He graduated from Sulaymaniyah University in 1973 and joined the revolution in 1974.
In 1976, he moved to the UK where he continued his studies and received a PhD in chemistry.
He moved to the United States in 1985 and has lived there ever since.
In 1989, he became a member of the Kurdish National Congress (KNC) and from 2004 to 2008 he was its president.[1]