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Iraqi president drops British citizenship

December 16, 2018 at 12:42 pm

Barham Salih (L) swears in next to Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi (C) after Iraq’s parliament elected Salih as the new president on Tuesday evening following a second round voting, in Baghdad, Iraq on October 2, 2018. ( IRAQI PARLIAMENT PRESS OFFICE – HANDOUT – Anadolu Agency )

Iraqi President Barham Salih has renounced his British citizenship in adherence to the country’s Constitution, according to the Iraqi presidency on Sunday.

The Iraqi Constitution bans dual nationality for officials.

“All legal measures to give up the British citizenship have been completed,” presidential spokesman Luqman al-Feili said in a statement.

Salih was elected president of Iraq on October 2.

He was given the British citizenship in the 1980s, when he was working for the then opposition Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party during the regime of former president Saddam Hussein.

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