Five Appellate Division judges resign

Five judges from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court have resigned.

They are Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Jahangir Hossain, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique, Justice Md Shahinur Islam and Justice Kashefa Hussain.

According to Supreme Court sources, their resignation letters were sent to the President through the Ministry of Law this afternoon. 

Their resignation letters were submitted to the President via the Ministry of Law on Saturday afternoon, source said.

This development follows the resignation of Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan earlier in the day. Sources close to the judges revealed that the resignation letters were sent around 4:00pm.

Earlier, officials from the Ministry of Law confirmed the resignation of Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan.

Starting at 10:30am, protesters had gathered in front of the annex building of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, demanding the resignation of the Chief Justice and six other judges from the Appellate Division.

They left the High Court premises after the report surfaced that the Chief Justice had decided to resign.

Earlier, Prof Asif Nazrul, adviser on law, justice, and parliamentary affairs to the interim government, said at the Secretariat, "If a demand for resignation arises from a mass movement, it is expected that the Chief Justice will understand how to honour that demand."

Shortly after, the Chief Justice's decision to resign was made public.