Manoel Messias Pereira

Manoel Messias Pereira, aka “Manoel Ben-Hur”, was shot to death on April 09, 2016, while driving a motorcycle in the city of Grajaú, State of Maranhão.

Besides working for the Municipal Office, Manoel Ben-Hur wrote news about local politics in his website “sediverte.com”. One of the last articles he wrote was about the candidates for the next town hall elections.

The police superintendent working on his case believes the murder was an execution motivated by Manoel’s journalistic activities because he was followed by the assassins for while before being shot from the back, but none of his belongings were taken. Also, Manoel Ben-Hur is the third blogger killed in the State of Maranhão in less than a year.

If you would like to provide a personal recollection, please email us at: HRDMemorial@frontlinedefenders.org

Region:Americas

Country:Brazil

Department/Province/State:Maranhao

Nickname:Manoel Ben-Hur

Sex1:Male

Date of Killing:09/04/2016

Previous Threats:No information

Type of Work:Journalist/communicator

Sector or Type of Rights the HRD Worked On:Civil and Political Rights

Sector Detail:Freedom of Expression

More information:Front Line Defenders

1This database records an individual's chosen gender identity. If they do not self-identify as male or female they can use the option of recording other/neither or use the term NBGI (non binary gender identity).

URLs (links) of Interest
O Estado Maranhão
https://imirante.com/oestadoma/noticias/2016/04/12/terceiro-blogueiro-e-assassinado-no-interior-do-maranhao-em-menos-de-um-ano/
Nações Unidas
https://nacoesunidas.org/brasil-unesco-condena-assassinato-de-blogueiro-manoel-messias-pereira-no-maranhao/
Artigo 19
https://artigo19.org/blog/2016/04/21/alerta-terceiro-blogueiro-maranhense-e-assassinado-em-seis-meses/
For further information contact

contact@hrdmemorial.org