Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975) was a Bengali politician and nationalist leader who served as the first President of an independent Bangladesh from 1971 to 1972. He was a key protagonist in the build up to the Bangladesh Liberation War, during which he was imprisoned in West Pakistan. Sheikh Mujib was later Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1972-75) and then President again before his assassination by junior army officers in the August 1975 coup d’état.