Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus has said a Dhaka court punished him for the wrongdoing he “did not commit” after his conviction for labour law violations.

“You can call this justice if you want to,” he said in his immediate reaction after the Judge Sheikh Marina Sultana of the Dhaka Third Labour Court gave the ruling in the case on Monday.   

She sentenced Yunus, the chairman of Grameen Telecom, and three other executives of the firm, to six months in jail.

The court fined them Tk 5,000 under Section 303 (3) of the Labour Act.  Failure to pay the fine will be punished with another 10 days in prison.

They were also fined an additional Tk 25,000 under Section 307 of the same law. Failure to pay this fine will lead to them spending another 15 days in jail.

But Yunus, the founding Grameen Bank managing director, and the three others will not start serving time in prison anytime soon, as the court granted them one month's bail on condition that they use the time to launch an appeal against the ruling.

They were accused of failing to provide employees with appointment letters, get work schedules approved by the authorities, and submit annual and half-yearly returns.

In the 84-page verdict, the judge found the charges against the accused were proven.

The court found them guilty of failing to deliver appointment letters to 101 employees, not paying employees during public holidays, and not submitting the fixed dividends to the Labour Welfare Foundation.

There was a heavy police presence in the Bijoynagar area for the labour court’s verdict.

Photographer Shahidul Alam, women’s rights activist Farida Akhter, Dhaka University teacher Asif Nazrul and lawyer Sara Hossain, among others, were present.

Yunus said he was happy to see his “friends” in court.

“Today is New Year’s Day. And I’m happy to see many friends whom I’ve not seen for ages. They have come to hear the verdict. I’m delighted to see them.”

Abdullah Al Mamun, a lawyer for Yunus, said they would appeal against the verdict.

“The state could not prove anything. The defendants are acquitted even if a single objection is raised, but this is the verdict we have even after we raised 109 objections and gave 105 suggestions.”

“This verdict actually aims to punish Yunus,” the lawyer said.