A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus – and three other people – to six months in prison for multiple violations of labor law. Sentence that has been made known amid international criticism against the Bangladeshi Government for the judicial persecution against the winner.
It was the Dhaka labor court that issued a verdict that, however, does not imply their immediate entry into prison, since those convicted were granted one month’s bail pending their appeal to a higher court.
“We are being punished for the crime we did not commit,” Yunus told the media in his first reaction upon leaving the judicial complex.
His lawyer, Abdullah Al Mamun, has been equally “furious” with the verdict, guaranteeing that there will be an appeal. “The State could not prove anything. We present 109 contradictions. If there is a contradiction, even a person accused of murder is released,” he noted.
The UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, who was present at the trial, calls the verdict a “travesty of justice.” “As a citizen of Bangladesh, on the first day of 2024, I am shocked and terrified to see what is happening to the rule of law in this country.”
“The Labor Court has been used as a weapon against a Nobel Peace Prize winner while labor laws are violated in the most severe way every day, in every factory and even in the streets of violence, and the Government does nothing” Khan added.
Yunus was accused in September 2021 of failing to establish the Workers’ Contribution Fund and the Welfare Fund in his company, and not sharing the benefits to which they were entitled with his employees. Other charges include problems proving the regular hiring of 100 workers.
Yunus, known as the banker of the poor, was recognized in 2006 with the Nobel Peace Prize for having founded the Grameen Bank to combat poverty in Bangladesh by developing the concept of microcredit, in which loans are granted to poor people. resources that would normally be rejected in the financial system.
However, it has had a tense relationship with the Bangladeshi authorities since Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power. In 2010, a documentary appeared that denounced alleged illegal fund transfers between the two entities of the Grameen Group.
In recent years, Hasina has also criticized Yunus for allegedly influencing the World Bank to cancel financing for the construction of a megaproject, an accusation he denied.
Yunus has faced more than 170 cases alleging corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and labor law violations.
In an open letter sent to Hasina on August 28, 176 world leaders, including former US President Barack Obama, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and more than 100 Nobel laureates, expressed concern about the “ continuous judicial processes and harassment” against Yunus.
The verdict against the Nobel Peace Prize winner occurs just days before the general elections in Bangladesh, which will take place on January 7, and have been boycotted by the opposition.
