Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem (29 March 1916 – 8 July 1997) was a Bangladeshi jurist and statesman. He was first

Chief Justice of Bangladesh The chief justice of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধান বিচারপতি — ) is the chief amongst the judges of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and also head of the whole judicial establishments, inclu ...

from 1972 to 1975. He became the

President of Bangladesh The president of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — ) officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশে ...

in the aftermath of counter-coups in November 1975. He was made

Chief Martial Law Administrator The office of the Chief Martial Law Administrator was a senior and authoritative post with Zonal Martial Law Administrators as deputies created in countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia that gave considerable executive authority and p ...

. Sayem presided over a cabinet headed by the three chiefs of the armed forces. The cabinet included civilian technocrats and politicians. Sayem resigned on grounds of ill health in April 1977, and was replaced by President

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d ...

Early life

Sayem was born on 29 March 1916 in

Rangpur district Rangpur ( bn, রংপুর) is a district in Northern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rangpur Division. Geography Under the Rangpur Division (one of eight divisions) composed of eight districts of northern Bangladesh, the District of Rangpur ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He attended the Rangpur District School and

Carmichael College Carmichael College is an educational institution in Rangpur, Bangladesh. It was established on 10 November 1916 and was named after Thomas David Baron Carmichael of Skirling. The college is situated in Lalbag, to the south from zero point of ...

. He later attended Presidency College in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and graduated from the

University Law College The University Law College, Bangalore University, popularly known as ULC - Bangalore, is a legal education institution located in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Administration Bangalore University ULC is administered and maintaine ...

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

Career

Sayem started working as an advocate at the Calcutta High Court in 1944. After partition of India in 1947, he moved to Dhaka, East Bengal, Pakistan. He joined the newly established

Dhaka High Court The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate D ...

. He joined the law firm Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq as a junior advocate. He was elected secretary of Dhaka High Court Bar Association. He was later elected vice president of the Bar association. He was a member of the East Pakistan Lawyers’ Association. He would be elected Secretary, Secretary General, and the vice-president of the East Pakistan Lawyers’ Association. Sayem was also elected to the local board of the

State Bank of Pakistan The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) ( ur, ) is the Central Bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was Nationalized and ...

. He was appointed judge in the Dhaka High Court on 3 July 1962. He served in the Commission of Enquiry for finding out the causes of exodus and eviction of the members of the minority community in 1967. In 1970 he was appointed to the Delimitation Commission responsible for the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies. He was appointed to the Election Commission. In 1971, Bangladesh became an independent country following the Bangladesh Liberation war. On 12 January 1972, Sayem was made the Chief Justice of Bangladesh High Court. On 17 December 1972, he was made the Chief Justice of Bangladesh following the creation of Bangladesh Supreme Court. He gave the verdict on the important Berubari Case concerning the exchange of enclaves between Bangladesh and India. Sayem assumed the office of President and Chief Martial Law Administrator on 6 November 1975 following the 3 November 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état by Brigadier General

Khaled Mosharraf Khaled Mosharraf, Bir Uttom ( bn, খালেদ মোশাররফ; 9 November 1937 – 7 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi military officer known for his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Khaled was the Sector Commander of Bangladesh ...

. On 29 November 1976, He removed himself from the office of the Chief Martial Law Administrator and was replaced by Major General

, Chief of Army Staff. On 21 April 1977, he resigned from the presidency of Bangladesh on health grounds. Major General Ziaur Rahman succeeded him as the president of Bangladesh.

Death

He died on 8 July 1997 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayem, Abu Sadat Mohammad 1916 births 1997 deaths Awami League politicians Supreme Court of Bangladesh justices Presidents of Bangladesh University of Calcutta alumni Chief justices of Bangladesh Carmichael College alumni