View source for Abu Sayeed Chowdhury

{{Short description|President of Bangladesh from 1972 to 1973}}
{{other people||Abu Sayeed (disambiguation)}}

{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Abu Sayeed Chowdhury
| native_name         = {{nobold|আবু সাঈদ চৌধুরী}}
| native_name_lang    = bn
| image               = Abu Sayeed Chowdhury at the office of the Vice-Chancellor of Dacca University, November 1970.png
| image_size          =
| caption             = Chodwhury in 1970
| office2             = 41st Chairman of the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]]
| term_start2         =
| term_end2           =
| predecessor2        = [[Pieter Kooijmans]]
| successor2          = Héctor Charry-Samper
| office1             = [[Foreign Minister of Bangladesh]]
| president1          = [[Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad]]
| term_start1         = 15 August 1975
| term_end1           = 7 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]]
| office              = 2nd [[President of Bangladesh]]
| primeminister       = Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
| term_start          = 12 January 1972
| term_end            = 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 2012}}</ref>
| predecessor         = [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]]
| successor           = [[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             = 12th [[List of vice chancellors of Dhaka University|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|Nagbari]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1987|8|2|1921|1|31}}
| death_place         = London, England, U.K.
| party               = [[Awami League]]
| children            = [[Abul Hasan Chowdhury]]
}}
'''Abu Sayeed Chowdhury'''{{efn|{{langx|bn|আবু সায়ীদ চৌধুরী|Abu Sāyīd Chowdhury}} {{IPA|bn|ˈabu ˈʃɑj̯id̪ ˈtʃoʊd̪ʊɾi|}}}} (31 January 1921 – 2 August 1987) was a jurist and the second [[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 chairman 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 to a [[Bengali Muslim]] ''[[zamindar]]'' family in the village of [[Kalihati Upazila|Nagbari]] in [[Tangail District|Tangail]], [[Mymensingh Division|Mymensingh district]], [[Bengal Presidency]] (now [[Bangladesh]]).<ref name=bpedia/> His father, [[Abdul Hamid Chowdhury]], was a former speaker of the [[East Pakistan Provincial Assembly]].<ref>{{cite web |script-title=bn:সাবেক স্পিকার আব্দুল হামিদ চৌধুরীর ৪৫তম মৃত্যুবার্ষিকী আজ |url=https://archive1.ittefaq.com.bd/print-edition/others/2014/09/04/1680.html |work=[[The Daily Ittefaq]] |access-date=28 December 2019 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228171854/https://archive1.ittefaq.com.bd/print-edition/others/2014/09/04/1680.html |language=bn}}</ref>

Chowdhury graduated in 1940 from the Presidency College in Calcutta. He obtained his master's and law degrees from the [[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 (1960–1961) and chairman of the Bengali Development Board (1963–1968).{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

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 2012}}</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. In December of the same year he resigned and became 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.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

== 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=Associated Press |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=21 March 2016}}</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 new president, [[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>

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== 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 |date=14 March 2012 |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 Kalihati Upazila]]
[[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:Ministers of foreign affairs of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of Bangla Academy]]
[[Category:Mymensingh Zilla School alumni]]
[[Category:Provisional Government of Bangladesh]]