Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus has been sentenced in a case filed by the aggrieved people, and the government is not a party to it.

“The government cannot dictate the court. I would like to say, paying due respect to Dr Yunus, that the government is not a party to the case. Aggrieved private people filed the case,” he told reporters while responding to a question at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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He, however, preferred to consider his remarks as a citizen of the country and Awami league joint general secretary, not as the foreign minister.

Earlier, a TV journalist drew the Foreign Minister's attention to a letter from US congressmen to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina regarding Dr Yunus.

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"If the US congressmen wrote any such letter, they are telling the government to interfere with the court. Can the government do that? Is it logical?” — said the foreign minister.

UNB could not verify the authenticity of the letter.

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Earlier, a Dhaka court sentenced Dr Yunus and three top officials of Grameen Telecom to six months’ jail, with fine of Tk 25000 each, in a case over violation of labor law.

The others accused in the case are: Ashraful Hasan, CEO of Grameen Telecom Trust; trustee Nurjahan Begum; and managing director M Shahjahan.

They were accused of not making 101 workers and employees of Grameen Telecom permanent, not encashing public leave, and not depositing certain dividends to the Workers Welfare Foundation.

In the 84-page verdict, the judge said the charges of violating labor laws were proved against them.

The court, however, granted them conditional bail.

Dr Yunus claimed that he had been punished for a crime he did not commit.

“I have been punished for a crime that I haven’t committed,” Yunus told reporters after he was convicted in a case over violation of labor law. “If you want to call it justice, you can.”