Ranglai Mro tortured, sentenced to 17 yrs in Bangladesh

Ranglai Mro tortured, sentenced to 17 yrs in Bangladesh
Originally uploaded by Ina's Pics

Ranglai Mro was arrested in March 2007 and false charges brought against him.

Ranglai is a local Headman and ran an Indigenous NGO in Bandarban, CHT Bangladesh called Mrochet. Mrochet was a partner iof DfID. Ranglai's main crime was to protest the displacement of Indigenous and Bengali people from villages to make way for a military training camp. Ranglai was arrested in March 2007, brutally tortured at the Army Cantonment in Bandarban. He was finally transferred to Chittagong College Medical Hospital where he was treated for his injuries. He was charged with possessing a firearm and bullet. His lawyers maintain he had a license for the gun. But allege that they were unable to bring any witnesses.

The sentence is also disproportionate to any alleged crime and Ranglai was denied a fair trial or the due process of law. Instead he is one of the thousands detained without fair trial under the current military backed Caretaker regime.

It is essential the thousands of innocent political prisoners unlawfully detained under false charges by the Army and RAB are released prior to the elections in Bangladesh.

Here is a link to the Amnesty International Urgent Action about Ranglai:
www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA12/003/2008/en/ef596e...
Survival International: www.survival-international.org/news/2483