The 1982 Bangladeshi military coup d'état deposed the civilian government headed by the President of Bangladesh Abdus Sattar and brought to power the Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad. After serving initially as the Chief Martial Law Administrator, Ershad assumed the post of president in 1983 and ruled until 1990.

Abdus Sattar was a Bangladeshi statesman. A leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), he served as the President of Bangladesh from 1981 to 1982, and earlier as the Vice President of Bangladesh. A jurist by profession, Abdus Sattar held numerous constitutional and political offices in British India, East Pakistan and Bangladesh. He was a cabinet minister, supreme court judge, and chief election commissioner.