Bangladesh: Nobel Laureate Sentenced to 6 Months in Jail

Facts

• Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and three of his colleagues have been jailed for six months for violating Bangladesh's labor laws.¹
• The Third Labour Court of Dhaka on Monday found that 67 employees of his company Grameen Telecom were neither granted permanent status, nor received welfare funds, though the company was supposed to allocate 5% of dividends to staff wages.²
• However, all four individuals— who have been granted bail pending appeal — have denied wrongdoing, with Yunus claiming that the verdict was 'contrary to all legal precedent and logic.'³
• In addition to the prison sentence, the accused have each been fined 30K Bangladeshi Taka ($273) and given 30 days to file an appeal to Bangladesh's High Court.⁴
• Yunus won the 2006 Peace Prize alongside Grameen Bank for providing loans under $100 to the country's rural poor, which aided millions in Bangladesh to exit poverty.⁵
• In 2010, the 83-year-old was accused of secretly transferring Grameen Bank's $100M to a sister company. Three years later, Yunus was put on trial on charges of receiving funds without government permission.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Sky News, ³Independent, ⁴dhakatribune.com, ⁵reuters.com and ⁶Dw.Com.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The Daily Star. Yunus is the victim of Bangladesh's authorities targeting an outspoken critic of the Hasina government. One of the world's most respected names, there's no doubt that the charges against Yunus are fictitious. With 136 awards from 33 countries and state honors from 10 countries, the state's attack on Yunus should be considered a national embarrassment.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Daily Observer. The case against Yunus was brought against him by the workers of Grameen Telecom, not the Bangladeshi government, and it's nobody's fault but his that legal obligations were not fulfilled. With many more allegations and charges of financial corruption surrounding Yunus, it's natural that the professor should face the consequences of breaking the law like any other citizen.