The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sentenced to six months in prison for violating labor laws. This was reported by UNN with reference to Reuters.
Details
The court brought more than 100 charges against Muhammad Yunus. Among other things, he is accused of refusing to keep the jobs of 101 employees of his companies, of not having a social security fund, and of not paying 5% of dividends to employees.
In addition to him, three other employees of Grameen, a company founded by Yunus, were sentenced to fines and six months in prison. This includes the CEO of Grameen Telecom, Ashraful Hasan.
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Khadzha Tanvir, one of Yunus's lawyers, said that the case was politically motivated, and the authorities were persecuting Yunus, seeing him as a potential political rival.
After the verdict, the judge released the convicts on bail. The court also gave them one month to appeal to the High Court to challenge the decision.
Context
Professor of Economics Muhammad Yunus is 83 years old. He is considered the founder of microcredit in Bangladesh. He is the creator of the so-called "bank for the poor". In the 70s, Yunus began issuing loans of less than $100 at low interest rates. Later, this idea led to the creation of Grameen Bank, which provided banking services to the poorest segments of the population. In 1996, Yunus became an advisor to the Bangladeshi government, and in 2006, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his socially oriented lending project.