Amnesty condemns Dr Yunus conviction

Amnesty International has said the conviction of Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus is a blatant abuse of labour laws and misuse of the justice system.

"Amnesty International believes that initiating criminal proceedings against Muhammad Yunus and his colleagues for issues that belong to the civil and administrative arena is a blatant abuse of labour laws and the justice system and a form of political retaliation for his work and dissent," reads a statement by the organization’s South Asia regional office on Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The conviction of Dr Yunus is emblematic of the beleaguered state of human rights in Bangladesh, where the authorities have eroded freedoms and bulldozed critics into submission,” it added.

"The unusual speed in which the trial against Mohammad Yunus was completed stands in stark contrast to the snail-paced progress in other labour rights-related court cases in Bangladesh," Amnesty said.

The abuse of labour laws and misuse of the justice system to settle political vendettas is a violation of international human rights law, said the human rights organization.

A Dhaka court on Monday sentenced Dr Muhammad Yunus, chairman of Grameen Telecom, and three others to six months in jail over labour law violations.

Dhaka Third Labour Court judge Sheikh Marina Sultana delivered the verdict earlier in the day, granting bail to the four upon the submission of separate petitions. They now have one month to file an appeal in the High Court to contest the judgement.

The three others are Grameen Telecom CEO Md Ashraful Hassan, Managing Director M Shahjahan and Trustee Nurjahan Begum.

The court also fined them Tk5,000 under one section and Tk25,000 under another, in default of which they would have to spend an additional 10 and 15 days in prison.