Franso Hariri

Franso Toma Hariri (1937 – February 18, 2001), an Assyrian politician, was a high-ranking and long-standing Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq member and head of the KDP block of Iraqi Kurdistan National Assembly.

Franso Hariri

Franso Hariri was born in the city of Harir (70 km from Arbil) in 1937, and graduated from the Arbil Teaching Institution in 1960. He worked for the KDP in the early 1960s and was a close friend of the late Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani. Franso held important positions in the KDP during the Kurdish Revolution. He was elected a member of the KDP Central Committee in 1979 and was the head of the KDP delegation in the Kurdistan regional parliament, the governor of Arbil, and a minister in the third Kurdistan Regional Government in Arbil.

He supported projects for the beautification and modernization of the city of Arbil. He was also well known as a strong supporter of education, health, and sport projects in the city.

Hariri was assassinated on his way to work on February 18, 2001 by four Kurdish Ansar al-Islam members.[1][2] Two previous attempts had been made on his life in Arbil on 1994 and 1997 at the same place and the same street but he escaped from both.

In honor of Hariri, the Kurdistan Regional Government declared three days of mourning and renamed the Arbil football stadium the Franso Hariri Stadium.

His son Fawzi Hariri was a former Minister of Industry of Iraq.