2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was found guilty on Monday of violating labor laws in Bangladesh. “Professor Yunus and three of his colleagues at Grameen Telecom were found guilty under labor laws and sentenced to six months in prison,” said prosecutor Khurshid Alam Khan. The four were, however, released on bail pending appeal.
The economist who is credited with lifting millions of people out of poverty through his pioneering microcredit bank, and his three colleagues were accused of not having created a contingency fund within the company, founded by Muhammad Yunus and thus having violated labor law.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner rejected these accusations. His supporters rather see it as a way to muzzle him. The economist has been seen on the political scene as a rival to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is virtually guaranteed to win a fifth term in the January 7 legislative elections, boycotted by the opposition.
“This verdict is unprecedented,” said Abdullah Al Mamun, his lawyer, adding: “We have not obtained justice.” In November, the Nobel laureate told reporters that he had not profited from any of the more than 50 companies he had started in Bangladesh. “They were not intended for my personal benefit, whether Grameen Bank or many other organizations,” he defended.
“Continuous legal harassment”
Irene Khan, former secretary general of Amnesty International and now special rapporteur at the United Nations, was present at the hearing. She called the ruling a “parody of justice.” “A social activist and Nobel laureate who brought honor and pride to the country is being persecuted for frivolous reasons,” she added.
In fact, since 2011, Yunus has been affected by a series of attacks from the Bangladeshi government. He has already appeared in court after the Dhaka municipality filed a complaint claiming that Shakti Doi yogurt produced by Grameen Danone Foods is unhealthy. He was also the target of an investigation requested by the government concerning financial practices within his bank, Grameen Bank, where sums of nearly 100 million dollars were allegedly embezzled between 1996 and 1998.
In total, Yunus faces around 100 other charges relating to alleged labor law violations and allegations of corruption. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister even accused the Nobel Prize winner of treating Grameen Bank as his personal property and claimed that the bank “sucks the blood of the poor.”
In August, 160 international personalities, including former American President Barack Obama and former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, published a joint open letter denouncing the “continuous legal harassment” of which the microcredit pioneer is the victim. .
2024-01-01 11:47:02
#Bangladesh #Nobel #Prize #winner #Muhammad #Yunus #guilty #labor #law #case
