USA Bureau

Following an incident where former interim government chief advisor Muhammad Yunus was harassed in the United States, his entourage member Lamiya Morshed confirmed that he has suffered no harm.

She shared the update on Facebook at 3pm on Tuesday alongside an affectionate photograph of the Nobel laureate with two children.

"I took these photographs just a few minutes before those barbaric people surrounded him at JFK Airport," wrote Lamiya executive director of the Yunus Centre.

"The entire journey was filled with love and respect. He is absolutely fine."

Yunus faced harassment shortly after landing at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on Monday.

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. He killed a thousand police in my country. He destroyed the democracy in my country….”

Reflecting on the incident, Lamiya wrote on Facebook: "This incident merely exposes the extreme savagery and pettiness of those involved. It has caused no harm to sir (Yunus)."

The interim government's chief coordinator for SDGs also expressed her gratitude to those who reached out with messages of support upon hearing the news.