Nobel Peace Prize laureate faces prison sentence: 'Judicial harassment campaign'
Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, is being tried on more than 200 charges in his country. Yunus denies all the charges, arguing that there are political motives behind the lawsuits filed against him.
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Known as the 'banker to the poor,' Muhammad Yunus has been found guilty of violating labor laws and tax evasion in his home country of Bangladesh. In addition to the charges for which he was convicted, Yunus faces more than 200 other charges. He has denied all allegations, claiming that the government is behind the decision and that the administration of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is conducting a 'judicial harassment campaign' against him.
Muhammad Yunus was a pioneer of a banking model that promotes the use of microcredit to reduce poverty. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for this work.
In a statement to NBC News, Yunus said, "She hates me to the core. I don't know why this happened."
A deputy attorney general in Bangladesh was dismissed in September after telling reporters that Yunus was being subjected to judicial harassment.
Yunus has received support from all over the world. Nearly 200 prominent figures, including 108 Nobel laureates, signed an open letter to Hasina demanding that the charges against Yunus be reviewed by a panel of impartial judges.