Bot at 11:21, 18 October 2022

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{{short description|Bangladeshi politician}}

{{other people||Abu Sayeed (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Abu Sayeed Chowdhury
| native_name = আবু সাঈদ চৌধুরী
| native_name_lang = bn
| image = Abu Sayeed Chowdhury at the office of the Vice-Chancellor of Dacca University, November 1970.png
| office = 41st Chairman of the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]]
| term_start =
| term_end =
| predecessor = [[Pieter Kooijmans]]
| successor = Héctor Charry-Samper
| office1 = 3rd [[Foreign Minister of Bangladesh]]
| president1 = [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]]
| term_start1 = August 1975
| term_end1 = November 1975<ref>{{cite web | title = List of Former Ministers/ Advisers | url = http://www.mofa.gov.bd/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=97|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717120230/http://www.mofa.gov.bd/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=97|archive-date=17 July 2015|access-date=1 November 2017|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref>
| predecessor1 = [[Kamal Hossain]]
| successor1 = [[Muhammad Shamsul Haque]]
| office2 = [[President of Bangladesh]]
| primeminister2 = Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
| term_start2 = 12 January 1972
| term_end2 = 24 December 1973<ref>{{cite web |title=Leaders of Bangladesh |url=http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/bangladh.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728183807/http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/bangladh.htm |archive-date=28 July 2022}}</ref>
| predecessor2 = Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
| successor2 = [[Mohammad Mohammadullah]]
| office3 = 1st Bangladesh High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
| term_start3 = 1 August 1971
| term_end3 = 8 January 1972
| president3 = Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
| successor3 = S.A. Sultan
| office4 = Vice Chancellor of the [[University of Dhaka]]
| term_start4 = 2 December 1969
| term_end4 = 20 January 1972
| successor5 = [[Syed Sajjad Hussain]]
| predecessor5 = [[M Osman Ghani]]
| parents = Abdul Hamid Chowdhury
| education = {{ublist|[[Bindu Basini Govt. Boys' High School]]|[[Presidency University, Kolkata]]|[[University of Calcutta]]|}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1921|1|31}}
| birth_place = [[Kalihati Upazila]], [[Tangail District]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1987|8|2|1921|1|31}}
| death_place = London, England
| party = [[Bangladesh Awami League|Awami League]]
}}
'''Abu Sayeed Chowdhury''' (31 January 1921 – 2 August 1987) was a jurist and the [[President of Bangladesh]].<ref name=death>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=149111|title=Death anniversary of Abu Sayeed Chowdhury today|date=2 August 2010|work=The Daily Star|access-date=1 November 2017|language=en}}</ref> Besides that, he held the positions of the Chairmen of the United Nations Commission on Human rights, the vice-chancellor of the [[University of Dhaka]], the [[Foreign Minister of Bangladesh]] and the first Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK.<ref name=bpedia/>

==Early life and education==
Chowdhury was born on 31 January 1921 in a Zamindar family of Nagbari in [[Tangail District]].<ref name=bpedia/> His father Abdul Hamid Chowdhury apart from being a Zamindar become the speaker of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly later on in his life. He was given the title "Khan Bahadur" by the British Empire, a title which he later renounced to give his voice to the movement against British atrocities and the British Empire.{{Citation needed|date= June 2022}}

Chowdhury graduated in 1940 from the Presidency College in Calcutta. He obtained his master's and law degrees from [[University of Calcutta]] in 1942 and after the second world war he completed bar-at-law in London.<ref name=bpedia>{{cite book |last=Islam |first=Sirajul |year=2012 |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]|chapter=Choudhury, Justice Abu Sayeed|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Choudhury,_Justice_Abu_Sayeed |editor2-last=Haq |editor2-first=Enamul }}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Lord James at the office of the Vice-Chancellor of Dacca University, November 1970.png|thumb|left|Lord James, leader of the British Educational Survey Team at the office of Chowdhury (1970)]]
Chowdhury joined the Calcutta High Court Bar in 1947, and after the partition of India he came over to Dhaka and joined the Dhaka High Court Bar in 1948.<ref name=bpedia/> In 1960, he was appointed as the advocate general of [[East Pakistan]]. He was elevated to the post of Additional Judge of the Dhaka High Court on 7 July 1961 by the then [[Ayub Khan (President of Pakistan)|Pakistani President Ayub Khan]] and was confirmed as judge of the Dhaka High Court after two years. He had been a member of the Constitution Commission (1960–61) and chairman of the Bengali Development Board (1963–1968).

Chowdhury was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the [[University of Dhaka]] in 1969.<ref name=bpedia/> In 1971, while in Geneva he resigned from the post as a protest against the genocide in East Pakistan by the Pakistan army.<ref name=death/> From Geneva he went to the UK and became the special envoy of the provisional [[Provisional Government of Bangladesh|Mujibnagar Government]]. An umbrella organisation, ''The Council for the People's Republic of Bangladesh in UK'' was formed on 24 April 1971 in Coventry, UK, by the expatriate Bengalis, and a five-member steering committee of the council was elected by them. He was the High Commissioner for the People's Republic of Bangladesh, London from 1 August 1971 to 8 January 1972.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bhclondon.org.uk/list%20of%20HE.htm |title=List of the High Commissioner |website=High Commission for the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, London |access-date=3 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707131628/http://www.bhclondon.org.uk/list%20of%20HE.htm |archive-date=7 July 2022}}</ref>

===President of Bangladesh===
After liberation, Chowdhury returned to Dhaka and was elected as President of Bangladesh on 12 January 1972. On 10 April 1973,<ref name=bpedia/> he was again elected as President of Bangladesh, and in the same year (December) he resigned and become special envoy for external relations with the rank of a minister. On 8 August 1975, he was included in the cabinet of [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]] as minister of ports and shipping. After Rahman was [[Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman|assassinated]], he became the minister for foreign affairs in the cabinet of President [[Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad]] in August 1975, a position which he held till 7 November the same year.<ref name=bpedia/>

===UN Committee===
In 1978, Chowdhury was elected a member of the United Nations Sub-committee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.<ref name=bpedia/> In 1985, he was elected chairman of the UN Human Rights Commission.<ref name=death/> He was honoured with the insignia of ''Deshikottam'' by [[Visva-Bharati University]]. Calcutta University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law.

== Death and legacy ==
Chowdhury died of a heart attack in London on 2 August 1987 and was buried in his village, Nagbari of Tangail.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/03/obituaries/abu-sayeed-chowdhury-66-was-president-of-bangladesh.html|title = Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, 66; Was President of Bangladesh|date = 3 August 1987|newspaper = The New York Times|agency=AP|issn = 0362-4331|access-date = 21 March 2022}}</ref>

=== Controversy ===
Right after the [[assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]], Abu Sayeed Chowdhury joined the cabinet of the new government as the foreign minister and praised the mastermind of the assassination [[Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad]] by saying, "President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad believes in democracy and he wants to restore democratic atmosphere in the country."<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 August 2014|title=Who Said What After August 15|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/who-said-what-after-august-15-37449|access-date=20 June 2020|work=The Daily Star|language=en}}</ref>

==Books==
* ''Probashe Muktijuddher Dinguli''
* ''Manobadhikar''
* ''Human Rights in the Twentieth Century''
* ''Muslim Family Law in the English Courts''<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-172240|title=Abu Sayeed's birthday today|date=31 January 2011|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2 November 2017|language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{cite web
|title = Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury
|url = http://www.bangabhaban.gov.bd/sayeed.html
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141230080345/http://www.bangabhaban.gov.bd/sayeed.html
|archive-date = 30 December 2014
|access-date = 1 November 2017
|publisher = Bangabhaban
|url-status = dead
}}
* {{cite web
| title = The Diaspora engagement in the war
| url = http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/?page_id=56
}}

{{Presidents of Bangladesh}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Abu Sayeed}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Tangail District]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Vice-Chancellors of the University of Dhaka]]
[[Category:Awami League politicians]]
[[Category:Presidents of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of Bangla Academy]]

Abu Sayeed Chowdhury - Revision history

Bot at 11:21, 18 October 2022