Bangladesh Crisis: Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan Decides To Step Down Amid Renewed Protests

Bangladesh's Chief Justice resigns after facing an ultimatum from protesters. He had been appointed by the ousted premier Sheikh Hasina and was seen as her loyalist.

The chief justice of Bangladesh's top court said Saturday decided to step down from his post after an ultimatum to do so from protesters, the Dhaka Tribune reported. Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan, who was appointed to helm the Supreme Court last year and is seen as a loyalist to ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, agreed to resign "in principle" after he was told to step down by protesters who gathered outside the High Court premises in Dhaka. 

As per the report, Hassan will tender his resignation after consulting President Mohammed Shahabuddin in the evening.

Earlier, Chief Justice Hassan had called for a full court meeting with all justices from both divisions of the Supreme Court, which was viewed as a judiciary coup by protesting students. Following this, they announced a siege of the High Court premises. Hundreds of protesters, largely comprising students, also surrounded the Bangladesh Supreme Court, demanding the Chief Justice's immediate resignation.

As per the Dhkaka Tribune report, Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the student movement, issued an ultimatum demanding the resignation of the chief justice and the justices of the Appellate Division. Faced with resistance, Chief Justice Hassan postponed the meeting and later said that he would step down.

The fresh protests come days after a student-led uprising against the government's hiring rules led to the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ouster from the country and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus taking charge of a caretaker government.

Reportedly, around 450 people have been killed in more than a month of deadly protests that ended 76-year-old Hasina's autocratic rule. One of Asia's longest-serving leaders, Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh on August 5 under pressure from millions of agitators who took to the streets for weeks to demand her resignation.

According to Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, a senior member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Hasina faces allegations of murder, forced disappearance, money laundering and corruption, and she must face the law.