Bangladesh Chief Justice Set To Resign Amidst Supreme Court Siege by Hundreds Of Protesters Issuing Ultimatum

Chief Justice of Bangladesh, Obaidul Hassan, has reportedly decided to resign after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court premises in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Saturday. The protesters issued an ultimatum, demanding that the Chief Justice and other judges of the Appellate Division step down by 1 p.m. local time. According to a report by The Dhaka Tribune, Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan revealed his decision to resign following a consultation with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, scheduled for later in the evening.

The situation escalated when protesters threatened to besiege the residences of the judges if they failed to resign before the given deadline. The demonstration began around 10:30 a.m., with several hundred protesters, including students and lawyers, gathering on the Supreme Court premises to demand the resignation of the Chief Justice and the Appellate Division judges.

Earlier that morning, Asif Mahmud, an adviser to the Youth and Sports Ministry of the Interim government, took to Facebook, calling for the unconditional resignation of Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and the cancellation of a full court meeting. In response to the growing unrest, the Chief Justice postponed the full court meeting, which had been convened to decide whether the court would continue to function virtually.

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Obaidul Hassan was appointed as the head of the Supreme Court last year and is regarded as a loyalist of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The resignation of the Chief Justice comes in the wake of Sheikh Hasina’s dramatic exit from power. The 76-year-old former Prime Minister fled to neighboring India by helicopter on Monday as mass protests erupted in Dhaka, marking the end of her authoritarian rule.

Sheikh Hasina’s government had been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.