Prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has accused 83-year-old of ‘sucking blood’ from poor people
The Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been convicted of violating Bangladesh’s labour laws in a trial decried by his supporters as politically motivated.
The 83-year-old, credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his microfinance bank, Grameen, has earned the enmity of Sheikh Hasina, the longtime prime minister, who has accused him of “sucking blood” from poor people.
Hasina’s administration has become increasingly firm in its crackdown on political dissent. She has made several scathing verbal attacks against Yunus, who won the peace prize in 2006 and was once seen as a political rival.
Sheikh Merina Sultana, head of Dhaka’s third labour court, found Yunus and three colleagues from Grameen Telecom guilty, sentencing each to six months in jail. All four were immediately granted bail pending appeals.
Sultana said in her verdict that 67 Grameen Telecom employees were supposed to have been made permanent and that employees’ participation and welfare funds had not been formed. She also said that following company policy, 5% of the company’s dividends were supposed to be distributed to staff.
“I have been punished for a crime that I haven’t committed,” Yunus told reporters after the hearing. “If you want to call it justice, you can.”
“This verdict is unprecedented,” said Abdullah Al Mamun, a lawyer for Yunus. “We did not get justice.”
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