Born in Sulaimaniyah city in 1953, Rahim is currently the secretary of the internal departments of Iraqi Kurdistan's largest opposition grouping Movement for Change.

He was active in Kurdish student politics from an early age and joined the Peshmerga forces immediately upon his return to Kurdistan.

He had been active in Kurdish politics as a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and quickly rose to high leadership as Political bureau member with responsibility for external relations, in part due to his command of several European languages.

He was the founding editor of the party's chief newspaper Kurdistani Nwe and helped organise the 1991 uprising in which the Kurds overthrew Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime.

After his resignation from the PUK, Rahim was a founding member of the Movement for Change under the leadership of Nawshirwan Mustafa.