Dhaka: Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus was on Monday convicted of violating Bangladesh’s labour laws, reported AFP.
Yunus and three of his colleagues from Grameen Telecom — one of the firms he founded – have been accused of violating labour laws as they failed to create a workers’ welfare fund in the company.
A labour court in the Bangladesh capital sentenced all four to six months’ simple imprisonment but were immediately granted bail pending appeals, lead prosecutor Khurshid Alam Khan told AFP.
Supporters of Yunus have been crying foul, calling the case against him politically motivated.
The 83-year-old, who brought millions of Bangladeshis out of poverty with his pioneering microfinance bank, has been accused of “sucking blood” from the poor by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The internationally respected 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner was once considered to be a political rival of Hasina, who has made several scathing attacks against Yunus.
Yunus and the other three have all along denied the charges.
“This verdict is unprecedented… We did not get justice,” said Yunus’ lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun.
Yunus faces more than 100 other charges over labour law violations and alleged graft.
He had told reporters after a hearing last month that he hadn’t profited from any of the 50-plus social business firms he had set up in Bangladesh.
