Published : 13 Oct 2026, 04:50 PM
Updated : 13 Oct 2026, 04:56 PM
The government will take action over the harassment of Muhammad Yunus, former chief advisor to Bangladesh's interim government, in New York, says Prime Minister's Information Advisor Zahed Ur Rahman.
He made the remarks in response to questions from journalists at a press conference held at the Press Information Department at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
"The government is taking the incident of Muhammad Yunus being harassed on foreign soil very seriously. Specific legal and administrative action will be taken against those involved in this unwarranted harassment," Zahed said.
Yunus faced a barrage of angry remarks while leaving New York's John F Kennedy International Airport in a wheelchair on Monday afternoon.
Several leaders of the Awami League, whose activities are banned in Bangladesh, have been accused of harassing Yunus in New York. The incident took place at 3:45pm local time on Monday, as Yunus was leaving John F Kennedy Airport in a wheelchair.
A video circulating on social media shows Imdad Chowdhury, general secretary of the New York Metropolitan Awami League, and Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, general secretary of the US Jubo League, and a group of others standing in front of Yunus. Then, Yunus was wheeled back into the terminal.
The harassers continued after him. One of them shouted: “You killed a thousand people in Bangladesh. You terrorist! You terrorist! You terrorist, why did you come here?... Why did you arrest 200,000 people?... He killed a thousand police in my country. He destroyed the democracy in my country….”
Yunus was accompanied at the time by Lamia Morshed, the interim government's principal coordinator for SDG affairs and executive director of the Yunus Centre.