12 Facts About Massoud Barzani

Masoud Barzani is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017.

Massoud Barzani was born in the territory controlled by the self-declared Republic of Mahabad, and succeeded his father Mustafa Massoud Barzani as leader of the KDP in 1979.

Massoud Barzani has played a key role in the development of the Kurdistan Region polity since the Gulf War.

Massoud Barzani became a member of the Iraqi Governing Council and was the president of the council in April 2004.

Massoud Barzani was elected as the President of Iraqi Kurdistan by the Parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan in June 2005.

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In July 2009, in the first direct elections for the presidency of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Masoud Massoud Barzani was reelected as president by a popular ballot, receiving 69.

Masoud Massoud Barzani was one of the eight candidates shortlisted in the Time magazine's 2014 Person of the Year, for his efforts to push for Kurdish independence with the ongoing fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

On 7 June 2017, Massoud Barzani had announced that Kurdistan Region would hold an independence referendum on 25 September 2017.

Massoud Barzani is still the president of the KDP and receives ambassadors.

In July 2010 the opposition paper Rozhnama accused the Massoud Barzani-led KDP of pocketing large sums from illegal oil-smuggling.

Massoud Barzani was charged with defamation and sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment.

Massoud Barzani was released in 2006 following international pressure from Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and the government of Austria.