Who is Mohammed Shahabuddin, President of Bangladesh?

Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin administers Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's oath-taking ceremony as the country's Prime Minister in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 11, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Mohammed Shahabuddin, the president of Bangladesh since April 2023, is the country's sole top constitutional authority since Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India on Monday.

On Tuesday, Shahabuddin dissolved parliament and paved the way for the formation of an interim government and new elections, with army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman scheduled to meet student leaders to discuss further steps.

Here are five facts about Shahabuddin:

* Born in 1949 in Pabna in what was East Pakistan before it won independence and Bangladesh was born. As a student, he actively participated in the fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

* Independence leader and Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made Shahabuddin a district joint secretary in the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League, a political front of farmers and workers which included the Awami League party, in 1975.

* Shahabuddin spent three years in jail after Rahman's assassination in 1975.

* A former district judge, Shahabuddin headed a investigation panel that probed violence against Awami League members and supporters when the party was in the opposition.

* With Hasina as prime minister, Shahabuddin was elected unopposed as the country's president.