Famed social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus narrowly avoided imprisonment yesterday, after a court in Bangladesh extended his bail in a case on alleged labor law violations. But as the long-running feud between the Nobel laureate and Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina escalates, his supporters fear the respite may be brief.
Yunus is widely credited as the pioneer of microfinance, the concept of granting small loans to help poor people to start sustainable businesses. The model has been adopted across the world and earned Yunus global recognition. In 2006, Yunus and the organization he founded, Grameen Bank, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to lift thousands out of poverty.
But in recent years, his widespread influence and popularity among high-profile figures in the West has been seen as a threat in his home country. In 2011, he was forced out as managing director of Grameen Bank, and in January he was handed a suspended jail sentence for alleged labor law violations — a crime which he says he did not commit and which supporters have decried as part of a broader vendetta against him by the ruling government.
About the author
Catherine Davison
Catherine Davison is an independent journalist based in Delhi, India, writing on issues at the intersection of health, gender, and the environment.
