KABUL (Pajhwok): Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has resigned amid political uncertainty following reports that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina plans to return to the country, where she faces a death sentence over the crackdown on student-led protests in 2024.
Officials at the president’s office said Shahabuddin signed his resignation letter on Friday afternoon, citing ill health as the reason. The letter was submitted to parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, the BBC reported.
The speaker has cut short his visit to Thailand, where he travelled for medical treatment, and will assume presidential duties until a new leader is elected.
Under Bangladesh’s constitution, parliament must elect a new president within 90 days.
Shahabuddin’s resignation came days after Hasina told Reuters she would return to Bangladesh despite facing legal proceedings over her government’s handling of the protests that led to her removal from power.
Sources told BBC Bangla that Shahabuddin had been under pressure to step down from leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which currently holds power.
Following Hasina’s ouster in a mass uprising in July, major changes were made across government institutions, with many of her allies removed from key positions, including senior bureaucrats and police officials.
Shahabuddin was among the few officials linked to Hasina’s administration who remained in office.
Earlier this month, Hasina said she and her allies would return from exile in India and face court proceedings in Bangladesh.
The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh previously found Hasina guilty of allowing the use of lethal force against protesters and sentenced her to death in absentia.
The UN Human Rights Office has estimated that at least 1,400 people were killed during the unrest that forced Hasina to flee the country.
Since her departure, Hasina’s Awami League party has been banned from political activities, while several of its leaders have been detained.
“My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression,” Hasina told Reuters earlier this month.
She said she wanted to return to her homeland, adding that if she faced death, she wanted it to happen “on my own soil” where her parents were buried.
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