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.