Bangladesh’s new chief justice was sworn in after his predecessor, a loyalist of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned amid demands from protesters, a presidential official said on Sunday.
It is the latest in a series of appointments to replace an old guard seen as linked to the previous regime that was overthrown by the student-led uprising.
Syed Refaat Ahmed, the Supreme Court’s most senior judge, was sworn in by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, presidential press secretary Shiplu Zaman told AFP.
“He became the 25th Chief Justice of Bangladesh,” Zaman said.
Ahmed studied at the University of Dhaka, Oxford and Tufts University in the USA.
Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighboring India on Monday as protesters flooded the streets of Dhaka, bringing a dramatic end to her iron rule.
Her government has been accused of extensive human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents during her 15-year rule.
Her sudden downfall had surprised many cabinet ministers, who had gone into hiding, and several senior politicians – including the police chief and the central bank governor – had to resign.
Ahmed’s predecessor, Obaidul Hassan, was the latest to announce his resignation on Saturday after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the court to demand his resignation.
Hassan was appointed last year and previously headed a much-criticized war crimes tribunal that ordered the execution of Hasina’s opponents. His brother was a long-time party secretary.
Bangladesh’s interim leader, 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, returned from Europe this week to lead a transitional government that faces the enormous challenge of ending unrest and implementing democratic reforms.
Restoring law and order is the “top priority” for the transitional government, Yunus said.
Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in the field of microfinance. He helped millions of Bangladeshis escape from abject poverty.
He took office on Thursday as “chief adviser” to a transitional government made up of civilians except for a retired brigadier general, and announced that he wanted to hold new elections “within a few months”.
