Abu Sayeed Chowdhury (31 January 1921 – 2 August 1987) was a jurist and the President of Bangladesh. 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. Early life and education Chowdhury was born on 31 January 1921 in a Zamindar family of Nagbari in Tangail District. 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. 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. Career 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. 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 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. In 1971, while in Geneva he resigned from the post as a protest against the genocide in East Pakistan by the Pakistan army. From Geneva he went to the UK and became the special envoy of the provisional 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. President of Bangladesh After liberation, Chowdhury returned to Dhaka and was elected as President of Bangladesh on 12 January 1972. On 10 April 1973, he was