Nobel Laureate Dr Yunus jailed for 6 months

A Dhaka court has sentenced Grameen Telecom Chairman and Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus and three others to six months in jail in a case filed for violating labour law.

The other convicts in the case are Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hasan, Board Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.

Judge Sheikh Merina Sultana of Dhaka’s 3rd Labour Court pronounced the verdict on Monday.

The court also fined them Tk 5,000 each and asked them to pay the dues to all workers of Grameen Telecom within 30 days. 

After the verdict, Yunus and the three other officials filed separate bail petitions, and the judge granted them bail.  

Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) Inspector Arifuzzaman filed the case against them on September 9, 2021, and the court had summoned the four to appear before it by October 12, 2021.

According to the case documents, a team of the DIFE went on an inspection to the Grameen Telecom and found the violations of labour laws like not regularizing 101 staff and not establishing a welfare fund for the laborers, among others.