Court extends bail for Yunus in labour law case

Four defendants, including Yunus, had appeared at the court and sought permanent bail

The Labour Appellate Tribunal in Dhaka has extended the bail term again for Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who was sentenced to six months in jail, and another three top officials of the Grameen Telecom in a labour law case.

The extension was granted by the tribunal's Chairman MA Awal on Tuesday. He scheduled the next hearing on May 23 and granted the bail until then.

All four defendants, including Yunus, appeared at the court and sought permanent bail. The judge ordered an extension, but did not grant a permanent bail.

Yunus was represented by Advocate Abdullah Al Mamun. The state was represented by Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan.

"A case on the issue was reviewed in the High Court and a verdict was given. But we have yet to receive a copy of the verdict. Hence, it would be better not to grant permanent bail to the defendants,” said Advocate Khurshid Alam.

On Jan 1, Yunus, along with Grameen Telecom's Managing Director Ashraful Hasan, and directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan, were each sentenced to six months in jail and fined Tk 30,000.

A number of reactions were noted both at home and abroad over the case and Yunus’s punishment. All four of the defendants later appealed against the verdict on Jan 28. The Labour Appellate Tribunal accepted the appeal for hearing and granted bail to them while halting the verdict given by the Dhaka Third Labour Court until Mar 3. After a hearing, their bail order was extended to Apr 16.

The state counsel filed a revision case against part of the order issued by the Labour Appellate Tribunal regarding its legality. The High Court issued an order and a ruling during a Feb 5 hearing on the case.

The High Court asked why the order issued by the Labour Appellate Tribunal would not be scrapped. Yunus and other defendants, including the deputy commissioner of Dhaka on behalf of the state, were asked to reply to the ruling.

The case was filed naming Yunus and other suspects on Sept 9, 2021. The court found them guilty of failing to deliver appointment letters to 101 employees, not paying employees during public holidays, and not submitting the fixed dividends to the Labour Welfare Foundation.