Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday (January 30, 2024) said what appeared on Washington Post regarding Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus was an advertisement, not a statement. 

“Washington Post published it as an advertisement. That is an advertisement, not news. Clearly, it was done by a lobbyist firm,” he told reporters while responding to a question. 

The Foreign Minister said the lobbyist firm also did the same in the past. 

Read: Festivals like DIFF enhance country’s image globally: Dr Hasan Mahmud 

He said Bangladesh’s judiciary is transparent and the government is not a party to Yunus’ case.

Dr Hasan said the aggrieved people of Yunus’ organization filed the case and the trial is underway in a very transparent way.

Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus on Sunday claimed that it was the government, not the workers of his company, who filed the labor law violation case against him.

When his attention was drawn to the claim, the Foreign Minister on Monday said, “With due respect to him, I would like to say that what he said is not correct.”

The minister said that the aggrieved workers of Yunus’ company filed the case as they were deprived of what they deserve.

Read: Sheikh Hasina’s leadership is needed for a developed Bangladesh: Dr Hasan Mahmud

More than 241 global leaders, including more than 125 Nobel laureates, expressed their concern over the “continuous judicial harassment and potential jailing” of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus in a third open letter to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

On January 1, 2024, Professor Yunus and three Grameen Telecom colleagues were convicted of labor law violations, sentenced to six months in jail, and given bail while appeals are considered.