He is married to Fareeha Khalil, and has four daughters and one son. He started in politics as a Shi'ite dissident under Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1970s and rose to prominence after he fled a death sentence into exile more than 20 years ago. During his time abroad he became a senior leader of Dawa, coordinated the activities of anti-Hussein guerrillas and built relationships with Iranian and Syrian officials whose help he sought in overthrowing Hussein. Al-Maliki's constitutional mandate will last until 2010. On April 26, 2006, al-Maliki stopped using the pseudonym Jawad.