The Economist Weighs In

The international media is focusing more and more on the persecution of Professor Muhammad Yunus by the Bangladeshi government, as part of a wider critique of its human rights record. The most recent example is a hard-hitting article in the Economist.

It includes this observation: “The summons from the commission is the latest salvo in a decade-long campaign waged against Mr Yunus by Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Bangladesh’s prime minister. Her government claims that the aim is to root out corruption. But the probe into Mr Yunus is testament to rising authoritarianism in Bangladesh, which is increasingly circumscribing the space for the civil society the country once sought to nurture.”

And it concludes this with one: “The timing of the recent probes appears to be motivated by Sheikh Hasina’s worry about political competition ahead of an election next year. Since August the government has filed criminal charges against thousands of critics and members of the opposition, according to Human Rights Watch, a pressure group. Mr Yunus’s international standing makes him a potent threat to the prime minister’s power… Mr Yunus has shown no such inclination [to run for office] since his abortive foray into politics back in 2007. But Sheikh Hasina seems unwilling to take the risk.”