Bangladesh's Nobel winner Yunus fights for legacy as legal screws tighten

After office seized, 83-year-old widely seen as target of political vendetta

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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus speaks to reporters after being granted bail in Dhaka on Jan. 28. Many critics believe Bangladesh's government is using the power of the law to discredit a man once seen as a potential political rival. © AP

FAISAL MAHMUD, Contributing writer

DHAKA -- Years of tension between the government of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the country's only Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, are coming to a head, with the 83-year-old economist facing an ever-growing list of legal entanglements.

Yunus in the past two months has been slapped with a $5 million tax bill, a travel ban and a suspended jail sentence for allegedly violating labor laws, on top of well over a hundred pending cases against him.

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