Amnesty International in a statement on Monday said the conviction of 83-year-old Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus and his colleagues is an abuse of labour laws and misuse of the justice system to settle political vendettas.

"Amnesty International believes that initiating criminal proceedings against Mohammad Yunus and his colleagues for issues that belong to the civil and administrative arena is a blatant abuse of labour laws and the justice system and a form of political retaliation for his work and dissent," reads the statement issued by the organisation on its X handle.

A Dhaka labour court convicted 83 year old Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus and three of his colleagues under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and sentenced them to six months’ imprisonment.

Amnesty International also said the conviction of Yunus is emblematic of the beleaguered state of human rights in Bangladesh, where the authorities have eroded freedoms and bulldozed critics into submission.

The unusual speed in which the trial against Mohammad Yunus was completed stands in stark contrast to the snail-paced progress in other labour rights-related court cases in Bangladesh, it added.