Habiba Kojaman was born in 1927 in Amara, Iraq. Her family moved to Baghdad when she was at school. She met her husband Yeheskel in Baghdad and joined the Communinst Party. She was arrested and jailed for communist activities after a show trial in 1945 and in 1958 was released and deported to Israel. There, she trained as a nurse and was reunited with her husband in 1961. In 1975 Habiba and her family moved to London.