Bangladesh gets new chief justice: Syed Refaat Ahmed sworn-in after Obaidul Hassan steps down amid protests

Syed Refaat Ahmed, Bangladesh's new chief justice was sworn into office on Sunday, a day after his predecessor Obaidul Hassan, viewed as a loyalist of toppled premier Sheikh Hasina, stepped down as the top judge following protester demands.

Ahmed, the senior most high court judge, was sworn into office by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, according to a report by news agency AFP citing the president's press secretary Shiplu Zaman.

“He became the 25th chief justice of Bangladesh,” Zaman told AFP.

It is the latest in a string of fresh appointments to replace an old guard viewed as linked to the previous regime, ousted by the student-led uprising.

Hassan and five other judges of the apex Appellate Division on Saturday tendered their resignation, five days after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s regime amid massive street protests.

Hassan’s resignation came as protesters of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement gathered at the apex court premises. The students had issued an ultimatum to him and the judges of the Appellate Division to resign by 1 pm.

Earlier, Hassan oversaw a much-criticised war crimes tribunal that ordered the execution of Hasina's opponents.

On Saturday, President Shahabuddin had appointed Justice Ahmed as the 25th chief justice of Bangladesh.

In the wake of the country-wide protests by students and other demonstrators, several top officials in Bangladesh, including Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Maksud Kamal and Bangla Academy Director General Professor Dr Md Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari resigned from their posts.

Sheikh Hasina fled by helicopter to India on Monday as protesters flooded Dhaka's streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule.

Her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents over her 15-year rule.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on Thursday as Chief Adviser to a caretaker administration of Bangladesh following the ouster of Hasina.

Yunus had said the restoration of law and order is the caretaker administration's “first priority”.