Mohammad Shishir Manir is a prominent advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, recognized for his expertise in criminal law, international crimes, and public interest litigation. He leads the next generation of Bangladeshi lawyers with a focus on human rights and constitutional accountability.
Mohammad Shishir Manir earns his LL.B. (Hons) and LL.M. degrees from the University of Dhaka, one of Bangladesh’s most prestigious institutions. He builds his legal foundations in the country’s premier academic setting before going on to establish himself as a formidable courtroom practitioner. He holds memberships in both the Dhaka Bar Association and the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association.
Legal Practice and Areas of Expertise
Manir works as an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, focusing his practice on criminal, constitutional, and administrative law. He channels his expertise into three principal domains — criminal defence, constitutional litigation, and international criminal law — and earns a reputation as one of Bangladesh’s most technically accomplished and intellectually rigorous advocates.
As Head of Chambers at Law Lab, a Dhaka-based law firm, he leads a team handling a broad spectrum of cases including criminal appeals and death references, constitutional writ petitions, civil revisions, and juvenile and family law matters. He also serves as Deputy Director at the Bangladesh Centre for Ocean Law and Policy (BCOLP), extending his legal reach into emerging areas of international law.
Criminal Law: Saving Lives at the Appellate Stage
Manir makes his most consequential mark in criminal law by appearing in death reference cases — proceedings where condemned prisoners face execution — and securing life-saving outcomes for his clients.
He secures an acquittal for Md. Anwar Hossain Shankar in Death Reference No. 26 of 2016, overturning a death sentence. He achieves another acquittal in Death Reference No. 06 of 2016 for Md. Sumon Jomaddar. In the case of State versus Abdul Khaleq (73 DLR 260), he wins a full acquittal. He also successfully has Md. Rasel Mia’s death sentence commuted to life imprisonment and secures the setting aside of conviction in the case of State versus Abdul Gafur (73 DLR 198), altering the verdict from a murder charge under Section 302 to the lesser offence under Part II of Section 304.
In the Appellate Division, he takes up high-stakes criminal review petitions, including cases arising from terror attacks, fighting on behalf of condemned prisoners to prevent execution.
Beyond capital cases, he takes up numerous pro bono matters, including representing Tushar Das, a death row convict whose sentence he successfully has set aside; challenging the malicious actions of the Rajarbagh Peer in a writ petition; and fighting for poor farmers implicated in a money scam case. He also represents an innocent woman wrongly incarcerated while the main convict remains free, securing her release.
International Criminal Law: Defence at the War Crimes Tribunal
Manir takes on one of the most controversial and demanding roles in Bangladesh’s legal history by serving as defence counsel before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), the domestic war crimes court established in 2009 to try alleged perpetrators of crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
He appears as defence counsel in a number of cases before Bangladesh’s first ever War Crimes Tribunal and also assists senior counsels before the Appeals Chamber.
He appears for several of the most high-profile accused before the ICT and Appellate Division, including Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid, and Matiur Rahman Nizami. These are landmark cases that draw intense national and international attention.
In one of the most significant legal victories of his career, he leads the legal battle for ATM Azharul Islam at the apex court, alongside colleagues Barrister Ehsan A Siddiq and Imran A Siddiq. The Appellate Division’s full bench, headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, unanimously acquits Islam of all charges framed by the ICT-1. Standing outside the court after the verdict, Manir declares: “With today’s judgment, we believe that truth has triumphed and lies have been defeated. We believe, through this judgment, syndicated injustice has come to an end.” He further notes that the court itself describes the previous verdict as a “travesty of truth in the name of justice” issued “without assessing the witnesses and evidence.”
Constitutional and Administrative Law
Manir builds an equally strong constitutional practice, filing writ petitions and appearing in cases that challenge state overreach, arbitrary detention, and the abuse of institutional power.
He files writ petitions on behalf of clients facing arbitrary harassment by law enforcement agencies, challenges an expulsion for life issued by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), fights for the inclusion of a Madrasah student excluded from the Jahangirnagar University merit list, and represents doctors challenging improper passport and re-entry bans imposed by the government.
Political Identity and Public Commentary
Manir serves as a member of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and openly engages in public discourse on constitutional and political reform. He contests the last general election on a Jamaat ticket, combining his legal career with active political participation.
In the national debate over Bangladesh’s constitutional future, Manir plays a prominent role. He appears before the High Court opposing writ petitions filed against the Referendum Ordinance 2025 and the July National Charter (Constitution Amendment) Implementation Order 2025, arguing on behalf of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
He argues that any judicial interference with the referendum and the July National Charter would call into question the actions of the interim government and the legitimacy of the national elections themselves.
Speaking to the press, he describes the petitions challenging the July Charter as “frivolous,” stating: “July charter and the referendum are the outcome of the July revolution. The July revolution is not the subject matter of the court for judicial review. People are the best judges of these events.”
At public forums, he articulates his vision of Bangladesh as a country of constitutional supremacy rather than parliamentary supremacy, warning that all three branches — executive, legislative, and judicial — have repeatedly violated their own rules, and arguing that the July Charter offers institutional assurance against such abuses of power.
Scholarship and Legal Commentary
Beyond the courtroom, Manir invests deeply in legal education and public understanding of the law. Through his personal website, he shares courtroom experiences, law reviews, judgment analyses, and legal research, describing judges, lawyers, law professors, and law students as “the integral part of the process of ensuring justice in the society.” He builds this platform as a space for sharing legal perspectives and contributing to Bangladesh’s growing legal scholarship.
Legacy
Mohammad Shishir Manir occupies a distinctive and courageous position in Bangladesh’s legal landscape. He defends the condemned and the powerless in criminal courts, fights battles that others consider unwinnable at the War Crimes Tribunal, challenges state power through constitutional litigation, and engages fearlessly in the nation’s most contentious political and constitutional debates. His career reflects a lawyer who refuses to separate legal rigour from moral conviction — a practitioner who walks into the most difficult courtrooms, argues the hardest cases, and speaks his mind plainly both inside and outside the court.
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