Nobel Peace Prize winner to lead Bangladesh interim government

Muhammad Yunus is credited with helping to lift millions out of poverty using a pioneering system of micro-finance loans

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is a longtime political foe of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has been named the country's interim leader.

The appointment of the 84-year-old as chief adviser of the interim government comes a day after Ms Hasina fled the country after weeks of deadly unrest.

While Prof Yunus has been lauded for his pioneering use of microloans, Ms Hasina has regarded him as a public enemy and a local court recently handed him a jail term in what he described as a politically-motivated case.

Students who led the protests said they would not accept a military-led government and had pushed for Prof Yunus to lead the interim administration.

The decision to name Prof Yunus as chief adviser came after a meeting between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders, and student leaders.

"When the students who sacrificed so much are requesting me to step in at this difficult juncture, how can I refuse?" Prof Yunus had said.

He is returning to Dhaka from Paris where he is undergoing a minor medical procedure, his spokesperson said.

In 1983, Prof Yunus started Grameen Bank, which offers small, long-term loans to help poor people start their own small businesses. The concept has since taken off around the world.

In 2006, Prof Yunus and the bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

He is known internationally as the "banker to the poor", but Ms Hasina had described him a "bloodsucker" of the poor and accused his bank of charging exorbitant interest rates.

In January, Prof Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail for violating the country's labour laws by failing to create a welfare fund for their workers.

His supporters had said the case was politically motivated, while Prof Yunus, who is appealing the verdict, had said it was "contrary to all legal precedent and logic".

There have also been other cases against him, including tax evasion and serving at Grameen Bank beyond the mandatory retirement age - but Prof Yunus and his lawyer maintain that these are baseless.

In all, more than 400 people are believed to have died in clashes between government forces and protesters.

On Monday alone, more than 100 people died in violent clashes across the country, making it the single deadliest day since the protests began last month. Hundreds of police stations were also torched.

As protesters stormed and looted the prime minister's official residence, Ms Hasina fled neighbouring India, ending nearly 15 years of rule.

Prominent opposition figures jailed under her rule, including ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia and activist Ahmad Bin Quasem, have since been released.

Ms Zia chairs the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which boycotted elections in 2014 and again in 2024, saying free and fair elections were not possible under Ms Hasina.

The 78-year-old served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, but was imprisoned in 2018 for corruption, although she claims the charges were politically motivated.

Rights groups say Mr Quasem was taken away by security forces in 2016, just one of hundreds of forced disappearances in the country under Ms Hasina's rule.