http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=70536

The Daily Star, Thursday, January 8, 2009
Ranglai Mro freed
Traditional leader of Mro community Ranglai Mro was released on bail yesterday after serving around one year in jail.

Mro, chairman of the Sulaok Union Parishad of Bandarban, was arrested on February 22, 2008 from his Bandarban residence. He had been arrested in a criminal case under the Arms Act for illegal possession of weapons.

A High Court (HC) division bench comprising Justice Mohammad Mozammel Hossain and Justice Afzal Hossain Ahmed issued the bail order responding to a petition by his lawyers, says a press release.

Lawyers sought release of Mro on humanitarian ground for his emergency medical treatment. They also argued that Mro had been falsely implicated in this case for the interest of a certain vested quarter.

Mro was hospitalised the day after his arrest in 2008 and was required to obtain urgent medical treatment for blockages in his arteries. He is yet to receive the treatment.

He was again brought to the National Heart Hospital on January 2, but the indigenous leader was kept in bar fetters in the hospital bed.

However, bar fetters were later removed after interventions by human rights organisations Ain O Salish Kendra and the National Human Rights Commission.

[Corrections by Jumma Net: Mr. Ranglai Mro was arrested in February 2007, and spent 1 year and 11 months in jail.]