Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman • به‌یان سامی عبدالرحمان

Born in Baghdad, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman had a multi-decade career as a celebrated journalist before beginning a political career representing Kurdish interests in the UK and now in the US. She currently is the KRG Representative to the US.

Bayan was born in Baghdad, and was briefly exiled to Iran in the 1970s. Her father was an important figure in the resistance against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and her family had to flee to the UK to seek asylum in 1976 (when she was 11 years old) where she grew up.

She graduated from London University with her degree in history, then went into a career as a journalist for 17 years. Her career in journalism began with local newspapers in London, but grew after winning the Observer Newspaper's Farzad Bazoft Memorial Prize in 1993. From there, she went on to work at The Observer before joining the Financial Times as their Tokyo Correspondent, which split her time between London and Tokyo.

The family returned to Kurdistan following the fall of Saddam and her father became Deputy Prime Minister of the KRG until he was killed in an Erbil bombing in 2004 alongside 96 others. In 2010, she was elected to the Leadership Council of the KDP. From there, she went on to be the High Representative to the UK. Since 2015, Bayan has been the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representative to the United States. Her main role is to strengthen the relationship, coordination, and partnership between Kurdistan and the US, and to support KR positions in the US.

Her father Sami Abdul Rahman was a veteran of the fight for Kurdish freedom. He joined the KDP in 1963 and was a leader in Kurdish and Iraqi opposition to the Baath regime. He was Deputy Prime Minister of the KRG and General Secretary of the KDP, but was killed alongside his elder son Salih and 96 others in a double suicide bombing in 2004.

له‌ دایکبووی شاری به‌غدایه‌ ، به‌یان خان به‌ ده‌یان ساڵ کاری ڕۆژنامه‌وانی کردووه‌ پێش ئه‌وه‌ی ده‌ست به‌ کاری سیاسی بکات وه‌ک نوێنه‌ری کورد له‌ بریتانیا دواتریش ولایه‌ته‌ یه‌کگرتووه‌کانی ئه‌مریکا ئێستا نوێنه‌ری هه‌رێمی کوردستان ده‌کات لە ولایه‌ته‌ یه‌کگرتووه‌کانی ئه‌مریکا