Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has resigned due to health reasons, officials at the presidential office said. He resigned as political tensions mounted after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina said she was planning to return to Bangladesh.
Shahabuddin signed his resignation letter Friday afternoon and submitted it to Speaker of Parliament Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, officials said.
Officials said the speaker would cut short a medical visit to Thailand to take over the president’s constitutional duties until a successor is elected. Bangladesh’s constitution says parliament must elect a new president within 90 days of a vacancy.
Sources cited by BBC Bangla said Shahabuddin’s resignation came amid increasing political pressure from leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Pressure mounted after an interview by Hasina in which she said she intended to return from India and face legal proceedings in Bangladesh.
Shahabuddin, a long-time associate of Hasina, remained in office after the mass uprising in 2024 ousted her government. He remained in office under the interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus and after the BNP's sweeping victory in the February general election.
Shahabuddin said in December he wanted to step down despite his term as president being due to end in 2028. He said he felt “humiliated” because the interim administration allegedly removed portraits of him from Bangladeshi embassies and consulates. He said he would stay on until a new government was elected to decide his fate.
Hasina told Reuters earlier this month she intended to return to Bangladesh despite facing legal proceedings.
Hasina had earlier been convicted in absentia by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal over charges of allegedly using lethal force against protesters during the unrest in 2024. She has been sentenced to death but remains outside Bangladesh.
The 2024 protests have seen the collapse of Hasina’s government after months of countrywide protests. The United Nations estimates that some 1,400 people were killed in the violence.
Since then the political scene of Bangladesh has undergone a sea change. The Awami League has been banned from politics, and many senior leaders of the party have been arrested.
In the interview, Hasina said her party members were still being brutally persecuted. "If death comes, I want it to come in my own land, where my parents are buried, where their blood was shed," she said.
