Govt dismisses Deputy Attorney General Imran over remark on Dr Yunus

Deputy Attorney General Imran Ahmed Bhuiyan has been dismissed immediately after making remark on Nobel Peace Prize winning economist Dr Mohammad Yunus.

Law Minister Anisul Huq informed media about the development at Akhaura Railway Junction station when he came to participate in a program of Awami League on Friday morning.

The minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary also said that Deputy Attorney General Imran violated discipline by making comment (on not signing a statement by Supreme Court lawyers) on Dr Yunus.

“This is why he has been discharged,” the minister added.

Imran was dismissed under section 4(1) of ‘The Bangladesh Law Officers Order, 1972,’ according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

The order issued in the public interest will come into effect immediately, the notification read.

The section 4(1) stipulates, ‘A law officer shall hold office during the pleasure of the President and his services may be terminated at any time by the president without any reason being assigned for his termination.’        

Background

Imran on Monday (September 4) called a press briefing where he claimed that he refused to sign a statement allegedly prepared by the Attorney General’s office in protest against the statement of world leaders in support of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

“More than 160 global leaders gave a statement in an open letter to the Prime Minister. I believe that Dr Yunus has been subjected to judicial harassment. The Attorney General’s Office has decided to provide a counter statement and a directive was issued to sign the statement prepared by the office of AG through a WhatsApp group of lawyers,” he told reporters.

“But I will not sign as I believe that the trial proceeding of the case against Dr Yunus could be handled in other ways,” he added.

On August 28, over 170 global leaders, including more than 100 Nobel laureates, issued the open letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, calling for suspension of judicial proceedings against Dr Muhammad Yunus.

In the letter, the signatories called the proceeding against the Nobel laureate a “judicial harassment.”

In response, more than 150 notable citizens including educationists, economists, lawyers, journalists, actors, writers and theatre personalities, published multiple statements calling the statements made by the world leaders a “threat to the nation’s sovereignty” and “interference on the country’s judiciary”.

However, a group of 301 Supreme Court (SC) lawyers on Thursday (September 7) urged the government to suspend the trial proceeding against Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus in a case involving the violation of Labour Law.