DHAKA – The chief justice of Bangladesh’s top court has said he agreed “in principle” to resign after an ultimatum from protesters, days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to neighbouring India. Obaidul Hassan, who was appointed to helm the Supreme Court last year and is seen as a loyalist to Hasina, was told to step down on Saturday by protesters who gathered outside the court in the capital, Dhaka.

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said students decided to take to the streets when they heard reports that Hassan was holding a meeting with justices of the Appellate Division. “They viewed this as a judicial coup in the making, so they quickly gathered at the Supreme Court and demanded that he immediately resign,” Chowdhury said.

A formal letter confirming Hassan’s decision to step down was expected after consultations with President Mohammed Shahabuddin. The students believe the Supreme Court to be highly politicized and want the other seven members to also resign, according to Chowdhury. Awami League party leader Hasina, 76, flew by helicopter to India on Monday. Her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.

Hassan oversaw a much-criticized war crimes tribunal that ordered the execution of Hasina’s opponents, and his brother was her longtime secretary. Cabinet ministers left blindsided by her sudden fall have gone to ground, while several top appointees have been forced out of office, including the national police chief and the central bank governor. On Friday, the bank’s governor, Abdur Rouf Talukder, resigned from the post, citing personal reasons. Protesters had stormed the central bank’s headquarters amid the political upheaval that led to the end of Hasina’s 15-year rule.

Muhammad Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of poverty, is leading a transitional government, another demand by the student leaders. (Aljazeera) …[+]