Sao Paolo police have recaptured Wilson de Moraes da Silva, who was convicted of the murder of journalist Ivandel Godinho Junior. The reporter was kidnapped in 2003, and killed three days later. Silva had served three years of his 36 year sentence when he was transferred to a prison with restricted release privileges. He failed to return to the prison after his release for Father’s Day in 2008.
Venezuelan journalist Clara Fernandez has been killed in a shooting in Valencia. She was allegedly caught in crossfire in a fight between two rival gangs. The details relating to her death are as yet unclear. The Venezuelan National Journalism Guild is pressing for the state authorities to investigate.
Journalist Hilal Al-Ahmadi was killed by unidentified gunmen outside his house in Mosul as he headed to work on 17 February. Ahmadi was a freelance journalist whose articles often drew attention to corruption and lack of social services in the local area. According to one report more than 250 media personnel have been killed in Iraq since 2003.
Legislators in the state of Ciudad Juarez have voted to impose life sentences on the perpetrators of a wide-range of crimes, including murdering journalists. A life sentence for those who kill journalists will be applied only if the victim dies in the line of duty. 27 journalists have been slain in Ciudad Juarez since 2000, which represents more than a third of the nationwide total. This welcome move follows stalled efforts to increase legal protection of journalists at the federal level despite President Felipe Calderon’s assurance that it is high on his agenda.