Obama, world leaders call on Bangladesh to halt cases against Nobel Peace Prize winner

More than 170 worldwide leaders and Nobel laureates are calling on Bangladesh to halt cases against Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people. 

In an open letter to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leaders including former President Obama, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and more than 100 Nobel Peace Prize winners said they are “deeply concerned with the threats to democracy and human rights” in Bangladesh. 

“One of the threats to human rights that concerns us in the present context is the case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus,” they wrote in the letter. “We are alarmed that he has recently been targeted by what we believe to be continuous judicial harassment.” 

The letter calls on Hasina to suspend the current judicial proceedings against Yunus and asks for a panel of impartial judges in Bangladesh to review the charges with “some role for internationally recognized legal experts.”

“We are confident that any thorough review of the anti-corruption and labor law cases against him will result in his acquittal,” the leaders wrote in the letter. 

Yunus founded Grameen Bank in 1983, a company that gives small loans to entrepreneurs who would not normally be able to obtain such loans. The bank helped bring individuals out of poverty and inspired microfinancing efforts in developing countries across the world.

Yunus has publicly criticized politicians, accusing them of having sole interests in money. Calling him a “bloodsucker,” Hasina alleged Yunus used force and other means to get back loans from poor rural women when heading Grameen Bank. 

Hasina, who has been in power since 2009, launched an investigation in 2011 into into Grameen Bank’s activity. Yunus was fired as the bank’s managing director for alleged violation of government retirement regulations. 

He later faced trial in 2013 over allegedly receiving money without government permission, including his Nobel Prize award and royalties from a book, according to The Associated Press.

He faced additional charges connected with other companies he created, including Grameen telecom. Earlier this month, 18 former Grameen Telecom workers filed a suit alleging he siphoned off their job benefits, according to AP. 

Yunus also went on trial earlier this month for separate labor law violation charges. 

The letter from Obama and others also asked the upcoming national election be “free and fair” and that the administration “be acceptable to all major parties in the country.” The letter argues the previous two national elections “lacked legitimacy.”