Senior High Court Division Judge Syed Refaat Ahmed appointed chief justice

The decision comes amid demand from the Anti-discrimination Student Movement

Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed of the High Court Division has been appointed as the chief justice of Bangladesh.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin made the appointment on Saturday night.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the appointment is made under the authority of Article 95(1) of the Constitution. The appointment will be effective from the day he takes oath of office, which will be administered by President Shahabuddin.

Supreme Court Advocate Ahsanul Karim told bdnews24.com, “Since he [Syed Refaat Ahmed] becomes chief justice directly from the High Court Division, the oath has to be taken once. He will be sworn in simultaneously as chief justice and in the Appellate Division."

Earlier, Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and five other judges of the Appellate Division submitted their resignations on Saturday.

They are Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Abu Zafor Siddique, Justice Mohammad Jahangir Hossain, Justice Md Shahinur Islam, and Justice Kashefa Hussain.

Following protocol, the law advisor will forward the resignation letters to the president.

Protesters demonstrated outside the Annex Building of the Supreme Court's High Court Division from 10:30am on Saturday, demanding the resignation of the chief justice and the Appellate Division judges. The protesters dispersed around 2:00pm after reports that the chief justice had made a preliminary decision to resign.

Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed was born on Dec 28, 1958. His father Barrister Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed was the first additional attorney general of Bangladesh. He served as an advisor of law to the non-party caretaker government twice - in 1991 and 2001.

His mother, National Professor Sufia Ahmed, was a professor at Dhaka University’s Department of Islamic Studies.

Justice Ahmed earned his Bachelor of Law degree at Dhaka University. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Master’s at the Wadham College of Oxford University in 1983. He did a second Master’s and his PhD at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

In 1984, Refaat Ahmed became a lawyer at the District Court. He was enrolled as a lawyer in the High Court in 1986.

He also worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Hong Kong and Washington, DC.

Ahmed was appointed an additional judge to the High Court in 2003 and became permanent judge of the High Court Division in 2005.