Bangladesh court acquits Yunus on appeal, overturns labour conviction: lawyer

Dhaka, Bangladesh – AFP

A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday overturned a conviction against Mohammed Yunus.

“Professor Muhammad Yunus and three of his colleagues have been acquitted of labour charges,” one of his lawyers, Khaja Tanvir Ahmed, told AFP.

“The court earlier this year sentenced them to six months in prison.”

He was sentenced in January for the labour charge, but immediately bailed pending appeal and later travelled abroad.

All four had denied the charges and, with courts accused of rubber-stamping decisions by ousted leader Sheikh Hasina’s government, the case was criticised as politically motivated by watchdogs including Amnesty International.

“The labour court granted an appeal, and acquitted them,” Ahmed said.

The 84-year-old Yunus, known as the “banker to the poorest of the poor”, was awarded the Peace Prize in 2006 for loaning small cash sums to rural women, allowing them to invest in farm tools or business equipment and boost their earnings.

But his public profile in Bangladesh earned him the hostility of Hasina.

Yunus was hit with more than 100 criminal cases, but the labour trial was the only conviction.

Hasina was ousted on Monday after weeks of mass protests and fled to India.