Yunus verdict won’t affect US-Bangladesh ties: foreign secretary

A Dhaka court sentences Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, the chairman of Grameen Telecom, and three others to six months in jail over labour law violations

The conviction of Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus for labour law violations will not affect Bangladesh's relations with the United States, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen has said.

"It's natural that state-to-state ties cannot be affected because of a single person," he told reporters at the foreign ministry after the verdict was announced by the Dhaka Labour Court on Monday.

The verdict came following a legal process, and he still can challenge the judgement, he said.

Masud declined to comment on the court judgement since it is an ongoing legal issue.

On Monday, the labour court sentenced Yunus, the chairman of Grameen Telecom, and three other executives of the company to six months in prison over labour law violations.

The three other suspects in the case are Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hasan and directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.

The court fined them Tk 5,000 under Section 303 (3) of the Labour Act. Failure to pay the fine will be punished with another 10 days in prison.

They were also fined an additional Tk 25,000 under Section 307 of the same law. Failure to pay this fine will lead to them spending another 15 days in jail.

But Yunus, the founding Grameen Bank managing director, and the three others will not start serving time in prison anytime soon, as the court granted them one month's bail on condition that they use the time to launch an appeal against the ruling.

They were accused of failing to provide employees with appointment letters, get work schedules approved by the authorities, and submit annual and half-yearly returns.

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.

Many countries, including the US, and international organisations, previously issued statements denouncing the trial as "harassment”.