Stop judicial harassment of Nobel laureate Yunus: CIVICUS

CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), has called on the Bangladesh authorities to immediately end the ongoing judicial harassment of Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus.

“Ahead of the Nobel laureate and social activist’s upcoming trial this month, we call for his conviction to be quashed and all other charges dropped unconditionally,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

Dr Muhammad Yunus, founder of the micro-financing institution Grameen Bank, won the Nobel Peace Prize. He is facing over 100 cases on allegations of corruption and labour law violations. Yunus denied the charges, saying the government was engaged in a judicial harassment campaign against him.

In September 2023, the UN raised concerns about the intimidation and harassment against Yunus which has persisted for almost a decade.

On 1 January 2024, Yunus was convicted of violating Bangladesh’s labour laws. He and three of his Grameen Telecom colleagues were sentenced to six months in jail for failing to create a workers’ welfare fund in the company. They were granted bail pending appeals. 

“The judicial harassment of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus seems to be vindictive and politically motivated and highlights the systematic targeting of civil society and critics by the Sheikh Hasina regime,” CIVICUS said in the statement.

“The authorities must halt this abuse of the judicial system to persecute Yunus and end this travesty of justice,” it added.

In December 2023, the CIVICUS Monitor downgraded Bangladesh's civic space to ‘closed,’ its worst rating. The downgrade is the result of attacks on civil society and a massive government crackdown on opposition politicians and independent critics in the run-up to the national elections held in January 2024.

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