2024-01-01 16:44:41
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sentenced in Bangladesh on Monday for labor law violations. A labor court in Dhaka handed Yunus and three co-accused six-month prison sentences, but they were suspended on bail pending an appeal, senior prosecutor Khurshid Alam Khan told AFP. From the perspective of supporters of the Nobel Prize winner, the process is politically motivated.
The 83-year-old Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in the 1980s, which provides microloans to the poorest people in Bangladesh. The economist was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for this idea.
One procedure among many
There are more than 100 cases pending against Yunus for labor law violations and alleged fraud. In the current case, Yunus and three colleagues from the company he founded, Grameen Telecom, were accused of violating labor law because they failed to create a provident fund for employees in the company. The four defendants deny the allegations.
Dozens of supporters demonstrated in front of the court on Monday. Irene Khan, former head of the human rights organization Amnesty International and now UN special rapporteur, followed the verdict in Dhaka on Monday. “A social activist and Nobel Prize winner who brought fame and honor to the country is being persecuted for dubious reasons,” she told AFP. The conviction was a “judicial farce”.
Last month, Yunus told reporters after a court hearing that he had not benefited from any of the more than 50 social enterprises he founded. His lawyers emphasize his innocence and describe the lawsuits as government harassment.
Sara Taimouri Published/Updated: Christoph Hein Published/Updated: Published/Updated:
The long-time head of government of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, had repeatedly verbally attacked Yunus in the past and accused him, among other things, of “sucking the blood” of the poor. The Nobel Prize winner was once considered Hasina’s political rival.
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