As noted in our previous post, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin and three colleagues recently released a strong statement of support for Professor Yunus. Senator Durbin recently demonstrated his steadfast commitment to justice for Professor Yunus by following the joint statement with a powerful speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Durbin called out the Bangladeshi government for levying fraudulent charges against Professor Yunus. He concluded his speech by saying, “Quite simply, what is happening to Professor Muhammad Yunus is a travesty that will seriously harm our [nation’s] relationship with Bangladesh. It must stop immediately. Enough.” A video of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here. His speech was covered in the Bangladesh media, including in The Daily Star.
Support for Professor Yunus from the human rights community also continues to grow. The CIVICUS Global Civil Society Alliance and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) called on the Bangladeshi authorities to immediately end the ongoing judicial harassment of Muhammad Yunus. Their statement included these powerful words, “The judicial harassment of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus seems to be vindictive and politically motivated and highlights the systematic targeting of civil society and critics by the Sheikh Hasina regime. The authorities must halt this abuse of the judicial system to persecute Yunus and end this travesty of justice.”
This statement comes after strong support from other human rights organizations such as The Clooney Foundation for Justice, Amnesty International and RFK Human Rights. (The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch was one of the signers of a January open letter to the Prime Minister demanding that she end the persecution of Professor Yunus.)
New coverage of Yunus’ persecution has just come out in Voice of America. The article quotes a courageous expert in Dhaka speaking about the reasons for the mistreatment and the likelihood of a fair trial under current conditions. It reads, “Rights activists and supporters fear that the government might imprison Yunus as part of the legal and political battle against him. Dhaka-based political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman expressed concerns about imprisonment driven by ‘vengeance’ from Hasina.”
Rahman is further quoted as saying, “Given the state of the law and justice system in the country, Dr. Yunus will not receive fair treatment.”
In happier news, the June edition of the Olympic Review highlighted Professor Yunus’ significant contributions to the Paris games on pages 16, 18 and 20. Once again, we are left with the question of why a man of such vision, accomplishment, and influence would be harassed and persecuted by his own government, rather than be celebrated as the national treasure he is.