Maher Jawad Salah

Maher Jawad Salah (ماهر جواد صلاح) was born in Kuwait in 1957. His family was originally from Jerusalem. Salah is a member of Hamas‘s Politburo (a position he previously held between 1996-2008) and its secretary-general. He was twice elected as the head of the group’s diaspora (external) politburo, in 2012 and 2017.

Salah was arrested by Saudi authorities in 2014 due to his financial activities on behalf of the group, and was released a year later during a visit by Khaled Mashal to the Kingdom. However, he was prohibited from leaving the country until 2016.

Saleh is a member of Gaza University’s supervisory board. He has a doctorate in civil engineering from London University. He was previously a student activist in Kuwait and reportedly helped found a number of Islamic and Palestinian national institutions in the United Kingdom and Europe.