Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to head Bangladesh’s interim government

Muhammad Yunus talking to the media outside the Dhaka labour court in January. He will lead the country’s interim government after Sheikh Hasina fled the country. Photograph: Monirul Alam/EPA

The Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will be the head of Bangladesh’s interim government after the longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising that left hundreds of people dead and pushed the south Asian country to the brink of chaos.

The decision, announced early on Wednesday by Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of the country’s figurehead president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, came during a meeting that included military chiefs, organisers of the student protests that helped drive Hasina from power, prominent business leaders and civil society members.