People

• Head of state or governmentNouri al-MalikiNouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki, also known as Jawad al-Maliki, is an Iraqi politician and leader of the Islamic Dawa Party since 2007. He served as the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and as the vice president from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2018.
• Head of state or governmentZhu RongjiZhu Rongji was a Chinese politician who served as the premier of China from 1998 to 2003 under CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1992 to 2002.
• Head of state or governmentMohammad-Ali RajaiMohammad-Ali Rajai was an Iranian politician who served as the president of Iran from 2 August 1981 until his assassination four weeks later. Before his presidency, Rajai had served as prime minister under Abolhassan Banisadr, while concurrently occupying the position of foreign affairs minister from 11 March 1981 to 15 August 1981. He died in a bombing on 30 August 1981 along with then-prime minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar.
• President of China from 1959 to 1968Liu ShaoqiLiu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959, first-ranking vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1956 to 1966, and the chairman of the People's Republic of China from 1959 to 1968. He was considered to be a possible successor to Chairman Mao Zedong, but was purged during the Cultural Revolution.
• Head of state or governmentMoshe KatsavMoshe Katsav is an Israeli former politician who was the president of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its cabinet. He was the first Mizrahi Jew to be elected to the presidency, and second non-Ashkenazi president after Yitzhak Navon. He is also the only ex-Israeli president to have been convicted of a crime.
• Head of state or governmentFakhruddin Ali AhmedFakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1974 to 1977.
• Head of state or governmentMohamed NaguibMajor General Mohamed Bey Naguib Youssef Qutb El-Qashlan, known simply as Mohamed Naguib, was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who, along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, was one of the two principal leaders of the Free Officers movement of 1952 that toppled the monarchy of Egypt and the Sudan, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Egypt.
• Head of state or governmentCharan SinghChaudhary Charan Singh was an Indian politician, peasant leader, author and an independence activist who briefly served as the prime minister of India from July 1979 to January 1980. Singh was principally known for his land and agricultural reform initiatives, and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Baghpat. During his premiership, he was a member of the Janata Party (Secular). He served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh as a member of Bharatiya Kranti Dal. He also briefly served as the deputy prime minister of India from January 1979 to July 1979 as a member of the Janata Party. Singh is widely regarded as the "Champion of Farmers", dedicated to advocating for the well being and rights of farmers.
• Head of state or governmentNajib MikatiNajib Azmi Mikati is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He also served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and in 2005, after holding the post of Minister of Public Works and Transport from December 1998 to 2003.
• Head of state or governmentRamaswamy VenkataramanRamaswamy Venkataraman, also known as R. Venkataraman, was an Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician who served as a union minister and as the vice president of india and president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in Tanjore district, Madras Presidency. He studied law and practised in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court of India. In his youth, he was an activist for the Indian independence movement, and he participated in the Quit India Movement. He was appointed as the member of the Constituent Assembly and the provisional cabinet. He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times and served as Union Finance Minister and Defence Minister. In 1984, he was elected as the vice president of India and in 1987, he became the president of India and served from 1987 to 1992. He also served as a state minister under K. Kamaraj and M. Bhaktavatsalam. He is referred to as the Father of Industrialisation of Tamilnadu
• Head of state or governmentZayed bin Sultan Al NahyanSheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was an Emirati politician, philanthropist, and the founding father of the United Arab Emirates. Zayed served as the governor of Eastern Region from 1946 until he became the ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1966, and served as the first president of the United Arab Emirates from its independence on 2 December 1971 until his death in 2004. He is referred in the United Arab Emirates as the Father of the Nation for being the principal driving force behind the unification of the United Arab Emirates.
• Head of state or governmentHaitham bin TariqHaitham bin Tariq Al Said is Sultan and Prime Minister of Oman. He acceded to the throne in 2020 following the death of his cousin, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, becoming the fifteenth ruler of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which has ruled Oman since the mid-eighteenth century.
• Head of state or governmentMoshe SharettMoshe Sharett was an Israeli politician who was Prime Minister of Israel from 1954 to 1955 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1948 to 1956. He signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence and was a principal negotiator in the cease-fire agreements that concluded the 1948 Palestine war. Beginning in 1933, he headed the political department of the Jewish Agency. He also founded the Jewish Brigade, which fought with the British Army against Nazi Germany during World War II.
• Head of state or governmentGulzarilal NandaGulzarilal Nanda was an Indian politician and economist who specialised in labour issues. He served as the acting Prime Minister of India for two 13-day tenures following the deaths of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 and Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966 respectively. Both his terms ended after the ruling Indian National Congress's parliamentary party elected a new prime minister. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1997. Passing away at the age of 99 years and 195 days, he holds the record as the longest-lived Prime Minister in India's history.
• Head of state or governmentLi QiangLi Qiang is a Chinese politician who is the premier of China and the second-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
• Head of state or governmentZail SinghGiani Zail Singh was an Indian politician who served as President of India from 1982 to 1987 and chief minister of Punjab in the 1970s. He was the first Sikh to become president.
• Head of state or governmentLi PengLi Peng was a Chinese politician who served as the premier of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from 1998 to 2003. For much of the 1990s Li was ranked second in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hierarchy behind then CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin. He retained his seat on the CCP Politburo Standing Committee until his retirement in 2002.
• Head of state or governmentNawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-SabahSheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was Emir of Kuwait from 2020 until his death in 2023.
• Head of state or governmentChaim HerzogChaim Herzog was an Irish-Israeli politician, military officer, lawyer and author who served as President of Israel from 1983 to 1993. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Dublin, the son of Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. He served in the Haganah Jewish paramilitary group during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt and in the British Army during World War II. Following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, he served in the Israel Defense Forces and fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He remained in the Israeli military as an officer following the war until retiring in 1962 with the rank of major-general.
• Head of state or governmentShankar Dayal SharmaShankar Dayal Sharma was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the president of India from 1992 to 1997 and vice president of India from 1987 to 1992.
• Head of state or governmentBarham SalihBarham Salih is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who has been serving as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 1 January 2026. He previously served as the president of Iraq from 2018 to 2022. Mr Salih also served as 2nd deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
• Head of state or governmentNeelam Sanjiva ReddyNeelam Sanjiva Reddy was an Indian politician who served as the president of India from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress in the independence movement, he went on to hold several key offices in independent India – as deputy chief minister of Andhra state and the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, a two-time Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a Union Minister— before becoming the Indian president.
• Head of state or governmentFuad MasumMuhammad Fuad Masum Hurami is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the president of Iraq from 24 July 2014 to 2 October 2018. He was elected as president following the 2014 parliamentary election. Masum is the second non-Arab president of Iraq, succeeding Jalal Talabani, also Kurdish, and was a confidant of Talabani.
• Head of state or governmentChandra ShekharChandra Shekhar was an Indian politician and the prime minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with outside support from the Indian National Congress. He was the second Indian Prime Minister who had never held any prior government office.
• Head of state or governmentMasoud BarzaniMasoud Barzani is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017.
• Head of state or governmentV. P. SinghVishwanath Pratap Singh was an Indian politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the Raja Bahadur of Manda.
• Head of state or governmentInder Kumar GujralInder Kumar Gujral was an Indian diplomat, politician, and independence activist, who served as prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998.
• Head of state or governmentAhmed Hassan al-BakrAhmed Hassan al-Bakr was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.
• Head of state or governmentTalal of JordanTalal bin Abdullah al-Hashimi was King of Jordan from the assassination of his father King Abdullah I in 1951, until his forced abdication in 1952. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Talal was a 39th-generation direct descendant of Muhammad.
• Head of state or governmentIsma'il Pasha of EgyptIsma'il Pasha, also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Sharing the outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he made Egypt and Sudan more competitive during his reign, investing heavily in industry, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa.
• Head of state or governmentMichel SuleimanMichel Suleiman is a Lebanese politician who served as the 12th president of Lebanon from 2008 to 2014. Before becoming president, he served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces from 1998 to 2008.
• Head of state or governmentHaider al-AbadiHaider Jawad Kadhim al-Abadi is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq from September 2014 until October 2018. Previously he served as Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government after Saddam Hussein was deposed.
• Head of state or governmentAdly MansourAdly Mahmoud Mansour is an Egyptian judge and politician who served as the president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. He also served as interim president of Egypt from 4 July 2013 to 8 June 2014 following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état by the military which deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Several secular and religious figures, such as the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, the Coptic Pope, and Mohamed ElBaradei supported the coup against President Morsi and the military appointed Mansour interim-president until an election could take place. Morsi refused to acknowledge his removal as valid and continued to maintain that only he could be considered the legitimate President of Egypt. Mansour was sworn into office in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court on 4 July 2013.
• Head of state or governmentJoseph AounJoseph Khalil Aoun is a Lebanese politician and former army general who has served as the 14th president of Lebanon since 2025. He has previously served as the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, and is the fifth president with a military background.
• Head of state or governmentAbdul-Karim QasimAbdul Karim Qasim Mohammed Bakr Al-Qaraghuli Al-Zubaidi was an Iraqi military officer and statesman who served as the Prime Minister and de facto leader of Iraq from 1958 until his overthrow in 1963.
• Head of state or governmentÉmile LahoudÉmile Jamil Lahoud is a Lebanese politician who served as the 11th president of Lebanon from 1998 to 2007. During his presidency, the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, that had lasted since 1982, ended in May 2000. He downplayed sectarianism and rearmed the Lebanese army, with help from Syria. Lahoud was closely allied to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and was seen as playing a key role in preserving the occupation.
• Head of state or governmentAbdul Salam ArifAbdul Salam Mohammed ʿArif Al-Jumaili was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the second president of Iraq from 1963 until his death in a plane crash in 1966. He played a leading role in the 14 July Revolution, in which the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was overthrown on 14 July 1958.
• Head of state or governmentYitzhak NavonYitzhak Rachamim Navon was an Israeli politician, diplomat, playwright, and author. He served as the president of Israel between 1978 and 1983 as a member of the centre-left Alignment party. He was the first Israeli president born in Jerusalem and the first Sephardi Jew to serve in that office.
• Head of state or governmentEzer WeizmanEzer Weizman was an Israeli major general and politician who served as the president of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense.
• Head of state or governmentAbdul Rahman ArifAbdul Rahman Mohammed ʿArif al-Jumayli, better known as Abdul Rahman Arif, was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the third president of Iraq from 16 April 1966 to 17 July 1968. He was the older brother of the second president of Iraq, Abdul Salam Arif, whom he succeeded after his brother died in an airplane crash in 1966.

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