Syed Refaat Ahmed made chief justice of Bangladesh

Staff Correspondent: Syed Refaat Ahmed, senior judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, has been appointed as the chief justice of Bangladesh.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed him as the 25th chief justice of Bangladesh on Saturday.

The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs issued a notification in this regard.

The appointment will be effective from the date of the oath.

Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed will take oath as the Chief Justice at 12pm on Sunday, said Md Shafiqul Islam, public relations officer at the Supreme Court.

Syed Refaat was born on 28 December 1958. His father, Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed, was a legendary legal mind and an Attorney General of Bangladesh and his mother, Language Movement veteran Sufia Ahmed, was a National Professor of Bangladesh and a professor of Islamic History and Culture at the University of Dhaka.

He obtained LL.B. (Hons) (First Class, First in order of merit), University of Dhaka. He completed a bachelor of arts in jurisprudence and masters at the Wadham College of Oxford University in 1983. Later, he completed his Masters and PhD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, USA.

He was also a Ford Foundation Fellow in Public International Law at The Fletcher School.

In 1984, Ahmed became a lawyer of the District Courts. He became a lawyer of the High Court Division in 1986. In 2002, he became a lawyer of the High Court Division. Later, he was appointed an additional justice of the Bangladesh High Court on 27 April 2003. Ahmed was made a permanent Judge on the High Court Division on 27 April 2005.

Justice Refaat Ahmed also worked as a Lawyer in the City of London and with the UNHCR in Hong Kongand Washington, D.C.

He is a founder Member of Global Judicial Institute on the Environment, Brazil. He participated in International Roundtables, Workshops, Conventions, Study Tours and Courses held in the UK, Germany, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, USA, Brazil and Myanmar.

The appointment came after Obaidul Hassan resigned from his post of chief justice early today.

Later, five more judges of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court resigned from their posts.

The five judges are Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique, Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim, Justice Md Shahinur Islam and Justice Kashefa Hussain.

They sent their resignation letters to the president through the law ministry, according to the ministry.