Salam Arif was born in 1964 in the village of Girda Nazi in the Sharazur plain, affiliated with the Khurmal sub-district. He was a villager and occupied with farming, and was a middle school student. In 1981, he joined the secret cell of Martyr Akram Hama Ali, affiliated with the secret organizations of the Halabja Regional Committee of the 4th Branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, when at that time Martyr Akram Hama Ali was an organizational cadre of the Halabja Regional Committee.
Martyr Salam Arif took up arms in 1981 and became a Peshmerga in the Balantaran organization under the responsibility of Mam Wali Haji Arif, affiliated with the Halabja Regional Committee. On the date of October 1, 1983, Salam Arif and Mam Wali Haji Arif went into the city of Sayidsadiq to carry out a partisan activity. Upon returning at the entrance of Sayidsadiq, they fell into an ambush of the soldiers and Jash of the Ba'ath regime and faced the enemy force and resisted for nearly six hours. However, due to the arrival of support forces for the Jash and Ba'ath soldiers, as a result, Salam Arif was martyred and Mam Wali Haji Arif escaped the ambush while wounded.
Source:1- Archive of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Encyclopedia Board.