Bangladesh Supreme Court chief resigns after pressure from students

The president of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh He resigned on Saturday after student protests demanding his departure, amid an institutional crisis following the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“There are some formalities for resignation. Once I have completed them, I will send my letter of resignation to President Mohammed Shahabuddin this afternoon,” said Judge Obaidul Hassan, who said his resignation was for the benefit of all members of the court.

Bangladesh Supreme Court Chief Resigns

The chief justice said that whether other Supreme Court judges would resign would be their decision, the Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star reported.

Hundreds of students gathered outside the Supreme Court to demand that judges not attempt a judicial coup to reinstate Bangladesh’s former leader, known as the “Iron Lady,” who ruled authoritarianly for 15 years.

Protesters say Hassan represents the influence of the former president, who was forced to resign last Monday after weeks of anti-government protests, which were harshly repressed and led to clashes that, according to EFE, left at least 400 dead.

“We had previously asked the Chief Justice to resign. If he takes a stand against the students and the people and provokes them, he will have to face dire consequences,” Abdul Hannan Masood, coordinator of the student movement against discrimination, said in a statement on Saturday morning.

The students’ return to the streets is due to the fact that “Hasina’s judges wanted to carry out a judicial coup today by giving the impression that she had not resigned,” said protester Sabit Hasan, a student at Notre Dame College in Dhaka, after days of apparent calm and the appointment of an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

“These biased judges must resign. As long as they do not resign, we will continue to protest,” he added.

The protests today come after the former president’s son, Sajeeb Wazed, said that Hasina has not formally resigned and suggested that she might return to the country.

The Supreme Court has validated the interim government that took power less than 48 hours ago, but had called a plenary meeting of judges for today, which protesters considered irregular.

(With information from EFE)

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