Bangladeshi cleric calls Nobel laureate "enemy of Islam"

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday October 17, 2006

Dhaka- A prominent Islamic cleric in Bangladesh Tuesday described the Muslim country's first ever Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus as an "enemy of Islam." Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini, head of the Islami Oikya Jote political party, said in a press statement that if ever an Islamic party came to power in Bangladesh it would ban Grameen Bank from operating in the country.

Amini is an MP with the ruling Nationalist-Islamist coalition. Islamic groups in Bangladesh are critical of the Grameen Bank's policy of helping destitute women.

The grassroots Grameen Bank and its founder Yunus were jointly awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace last week.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency