Bangladesh warns of legal action over harassment of Muhammad Yunus in US

Dhaka, An adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Tuesday warned of "legal action" after former interim government chief Muhammad Yunus was heckled by purported supporters of the disbanded Awami League at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

"It will not go unchallenged," Zahed Ur Rahman told a media briefing, hours after Yunus faced the hecklers shouting aggressive slogans, which went viral on social media.

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The Bangladesh PM's information and broadcasting adviser said the government viewed the incidents as "Awami League terror" and "definitely legal proceedings will be initiated against those committing this offence".

"I want to tell the Awami League members living in different countries that if they attempt such actions, they will not go unchallenged. There is no question of that," Zahed said, referring to the case of actress and activist Ajmeria Haque Badhon who was harassed in Italy.

A key aide in the past interim regime, Lamiya Morshed, was seen walking alongside Yunus carrying his luggage, while another man was driving him in a wheelchair as he was coming out of the airport.

The protestors emerged at the scene and shouted, "You are a terrorist, murderer!" "Why you come here?", and "You killed thousands of police officers in my country", when Yunus looked bewildered and remained silent.

The situation prompted the escort to hurriedly turn the wheelchair around inside the terminal to protect him from the verbal abuse.

According to media reports, Yunus went to US on a private visit a month after he cancelled on "health grounds" his scheduled attendance at a key World Health Organisation (WHO) conference in Berlin amid heavy pushback and petitions from several Europe-based organisations and expatriate Awami League supporters.

Yunus and his former interim government are also facing intense public, legal, and political castigation in handling Bangladesh's catastrophic measles outbreak, which has officially claimed 1,170 children's lives so far.

UNICEF said in May this year that it had warned the interim government at least "10 times" about the impending outbreak following procedural delays in vaccine procurement.

The worsening measles epidemic followed the interim government's decision to halt vaccine procurement through UNICEF and switch to an open tender system. However, the vaccine supplies ran out as bureaucratic entanglement in adopting the new system eventually caused the crisis.

After Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government was toppled, an interim administration led by Yunus assumed office on August 8, 2024, and governed Bangladesh for the next one and a half years.

In 2025, Hasina was tried in absentia by a special tribunal and sentenced to death.

The interim government also disbanded her Awami League party and sought her extradition from India.